■Y*y>sy 


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THE 

GREAT  TEACHER: 

CHARACTERISTICS 

OF  OUR 

LORD’S  MINISTRY. 

BY  THE 

REV.  JOHN  HARRIS,  D.  D. 

AUTHOR  OF  “  MAMMON,"  “  UNION,”  WITNESSING  CHURCH, 
HOUSE  OF  PRAYER,  &C. 

WITH  AN 

t 

INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY, 

BY  HEMAN  HUMPHREY,  D .  D  . 

PRESIDENT  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 


BOSTON: 

GOULD,  KENDALL,  &  LINCOLN, 
59  Washington  Street. 

1839. 


♦  * , 


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V 


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Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835, 
By  J.  S.  &  C.  Adams,  in  the  Clerk’s  office  of  the  Dis¬ 
trict  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


WORCESTER: 
Kneeland  &  Metcalf,  Printers, 
No.  15,  Central  Exchange. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction  to  the  American  Edition.  .  ix 
Preface.  .......  xxi 


ESSAY  L 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  OUR  UOR.d’s  TEACHING. 

“  He  spake  as  one  having;  authority.” 

A  Divine  Teacher  needed — Desired — Might  have  been 
expected — Was  predicted — His  advent  in  the  person  of 
Christ — His  lowly  Condition — Herald — Installation  to 
office — Subject  proposed — A  very  small  portion  of  bis 
discourses  recorded — Scope  of  his  teaching — First  char¬ 
acteristic,  authority.  I.  Authority  of  goodness — Invita¬ 
tions — Beatitudes.  II.  Authority  of  greatness — Claims 
universal  audience — Superiority  to  Jonah,  Solomon,  and 
all  the  great  names  of  the  Jewish  Church — Supremacy 
— Central  object  of  the  judgment  day — Impresses  his 
name  on  every  thing — Speaks  of  all  things  awful  and 
sublime,  calmly,  like  one  familiar  with  them — Teach¬ 
ing,  declarative  and  dogmatic.  III.  Authority  of  so¬ 
lemnity — His  peculiar  formula — His  denunciations  of 
woe.  IV.  Legislative  authority — Revises  the  Mosaic 
code — Asserts  his  superiority  to  law — Repeals  existing 
economy — Controls  laws  of  nature  himself,  and  confers 
the  power  on  others — “  I  say  unto  you,” — His  new 
commandment — Not  only  enacts  laws  but  ensures  obe¬ 
dience — Forgives  sin — Reposed  on  his  own  personal 
authority — Conclusion — His  teaching  exempt  from  all 
supposable  circumstances  unfavorable  to  authoratative 
teaching — Taught  with  the  perfect  conviction  of  the 
truth  of  his  doctrine — His  example  enforced  it — Cordial 
sympathy  with  it — Knew  the  ultimate  principles  on 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


which  his  doctrines  rested — And  the  supreme  value  of 
the  truth  he  taught — And  the  purity  of  his  own  mo¬ 
tives — And  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  doctrine — All 
this  must  have  clothed  his  teaching,  especially  when 
contrasted  with  the  prevailing  mode  of  Jewish  instruc¬ 
tion,  with  commanding  power — His  disciples  should  be 
distinguished  by  reverence  and  docility — These  dispo¬ 
sitions  to  be  sought  and  found  at  the  throne  of  grace.— 
47—82. 


ESSAY  JI. 

THE  ORIGINALITY  OF  OUR  LORD’S  TEACHING. 

Section  I. —  Of  God  the  Father. 

“  Never  man  spake  like  this  man.” 

“No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him.” 

Originality  not  valuable  for  its  own  sake — His  praise 
consists,  partly,  in  not  being  more  original — Deigned  to 
adopt  familiar  illustrations  and  sayings  in  order  to  en¬ 
gage  attention  and  affection — His  highest  claim  to  ori¬ 
ginality  consists  in  new  disclosures  of  truth — To  have 
merely  interpreted  the  book  of  nature,  unavailing — Is 
itself  brought  under  the  curse — The  great  truth  it  at¬ 
tests  is  the  existence  of  its  Maker.  I.  Christ  taught 
his  character — Prevailing  ignorance  on  the  subject — 
Even  in  Judea — Among  the  heathens,  the  Epicurian 
system  general.  II.  Christ  taught  the  universal  provi¬ 
dence  and  paternal  character  of  God.  III.  His  love 
to  man  exemplified  in  the  mission  of  Christ.  IV.  This, 
only  the  means  of  mercy.  V.  The  end — Free  gift  of 
eternal  life.  VI.  Offered  to  all.  VII.  Character  of 
Christ  is  the  character  of  the  Father.  VIII.  Taught  us 
to  call  him  our  Father — Summary  of  our  Lord’s  teach¬ 
ing  on  this  subject — Life  eternal  to  know  God  through 
Christ.  83—114 

Section  II. — Concerning  Himself 

“No  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father. 

His  person  unique — Not  understood  by  his  disciples  till 
after  his  ascension.  I.  The  complexity  of  his  person. 
II.  Object  of  his  advent — Evinced  the  divine  existence 


CONTENTS. 


V 


— Embodied  the  Divine  spirituality — But,  chiefly,  rep¬ 
resented  the  Divine  character.  III.  Mode  of  manifes¬ 
tation — By  sensible  representation — Affirming  that  all 
he  did  was  only  in  fulfillment  of  the  Father’s  commis¬ 
sion — Ascending  the  cross — Saving  the  outcast-iden¬ 
tifying  his  interest  with  ours — Sending  salvation  to 
Jerusalem — Giving  his  own  Spirit  to  his  disciples — In¬ 
terceding — Personally — Allowing  us  to  plead  his  name 
— Engaging  himself  to  answer  prayer — Object  of  the 
whole  to  demonstrate  that  “  God  is  love;”  and  to  make 
us  the  heirs  of  that  love.  115 — 163 

Section  III. —  Of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

“  This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit.” 

Difficult  to  discriminate  between  originality  and  mere 
novelty — New  theological  opinions  sprung  up  between 
the  times  of  Malachi  and  of  Christ— Though  much  is 
taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Old  Testament,  the 
doctrine  of  his  agency  is  one  of  the  most  original  that 
came  from  the  lips  of  Christ.  I.  Mission  of  the  Spirit 
dependent  on  his  own  return  to  heaven — The  reasons 
why.  II.  Object  of  the  Spirit’s  advent — To  convince 
of  sin.  III.  Means  of  his  operation.  IV.  Necessity  of 
regeneration.  V.  Effects  of  it.  VI.  Glorifies  Christ. 
VII.  To  enhance  our  views  and  desires  of  the  Spirit, 
our  Lord  taught  that  to  reject  him  is  unpardonable — 
That  his  presence  would  compensate  for  his  own  depar¬ 
ture — Be  a  remedy  for  all  the  miseries  of  earth— God’s 
all-comprehending  gift — Free  for  all.  163 — 199 

Section  IV. — Of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity;  and 
of  a  Spiritual  Church. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  imperfectly  known  under 
the  Jewish  economy — Taught  by  our  Lord  practically — 
In  the  formula  of  Christian  baptism.  I.  The  existence 
of  a  spiritual  church.  II.  Had  been  pre-figured — The 
world  contains  nothing  like  it.  III.  Its  simplicity. 
IV.  Its  purpose.  V.  Its  spirituality — Preached  repent¬ 
ance  as  a  requisite  for  membership — Armed  his  church 
with  power  to  expel  offenders — Denounced  the  Phari- 
1* 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


sees  for  “  teaching  as  doctrine  the  commandments  of 
men.” — The  church  his  earthly  kingdom.  199 — 213 

Section  V. — On  Satanic  Agency. 

“  The  Devil  and  his  angels.” 

Satan  the  prince  of  devils — Numbers  of  his  agents — His 
apostacy,  and  ruin  of  man — His  power  on  earth,  a 
kingdom — Organized — Long  almost  undisputed — Christ 
came  to  dispute  his  authority — Took  an  affecting  view 
of  human  vassalage — Satan,  aware  of  his  advent — Un¬ 
dertook  to  conduct  his  temptation-— Made  his  life  an 
incessant  conflict — Compassed  his  death — Defeated — 
The  defeat  of  Satan  quite  reconcilable  with  his  present 
prevalence — Called  a  spirit,  to  excite  our  vigilance — 
An  unclean  spirit,  to  awaken  our  antipathy— His  influ¬ 
ence  over  the  heart,  great — But  only  exercised  with 
our  consent — The  period  of  his  reign  limited.  213 — 230 

Section  YJ. — Of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul;  Resur¬ 
rection  of  the  Body. 

“I  ain  the  resurrection  and  the  life.” 

The  hope  of  immortality  reasonable — The  great  instinct 
of  humanity — Revelation  necessary  to  authenticate  it — 
It  did  so,  partially,  under  the  last  economy — Full  reve¬ 
lation  and  proof  of  the  doctrine  reserved  for  Christ.  I. 
Taught  the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  existence.  II. 
Proved  a  resurrection.  III.  He  himself  will  raise  the 
dead.  IV.  Resurrection,  universal.  V.  Bodies  raised, 
identical  with  those  interred.  VI.  Means  of  a  resurrec¬ 
tion  to  eternal  life,  provided  by  Christ — He  possesses 
the  power — By  dying  in  our  stead,  has  acquired  the 
right — Begins,  even  here,  to  make  his  power  and  right 
available,  by  quickening  dead  souls — The  final  extinc¬ 
tion  of  death  so  certain,  that  he  speaks  of  it  as  already 
effected.  230 — 255 

Section  YII. —  Of  the  Final  Judgment. 

“The  Sou  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory  ;  and  before  him  shall  be  gnlh- 
ered  all  nations.” 

The  judgment  anticipated  by  the  human  mind.  I.  Its 


CONTENTS. 


vii 

publicity.  II.  Christ  himself  the  judge.  III.  Its  sol¬ 
emn  pomp.  IV.  Its  rectitude — Hence,  it  will  be  uni¬ 
versal — Take  cognizance  of  every  act — A  judgment  of 
comparison  and  proportion — And  conducted  according 
to  the  known  laws  of  the  divine  government.  V.  Its 
division  of  all  intelligent  beings  into  good  and  bad — 
This  distribution  commenced  upon  earth — Angels  will 
then  be  employed  to  complete  it.  VI.  Its  final  awards 
— These  awards  everlasting — The  whole  doctrine  ex¬ 
hibits  the  practical  value  of  the  gospel,  and  the  infinite 
importance  of  Christ.  255 — 280 

ESSAY  III. 

spirituality  of  our  lord’s  teaching. 

“The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  are  spirit  and  life.” 

I.  The  spirituality  of  the  Divine  Nature.  II.  Of  the 
moral  law.  III.  Of  the  worship  of  God — As  opposed 
to  that  which  is  local — Ceremonial — Prescribed  by  hu¬ 
man  authority — Formal  and  insincere.  IV.  Of  his 
kingdom — Denounced  the  temporal  hopes  of  the  Jews 
— Called  for  spiritual  subjects — Born  from  above — Dis¬ 
claimed  for  his  kingdom  all  resemblance  to  earthly 
governments — Conclusion — The  whole  reminds  us  of 
our  proneness  to  repose  in  a  form  of  piety  to  the  neg¬ 
lect  of  evangelical  holiness — This  has  originated  super- 
stitution — Neutralized  the  Jewish  economy — And  early 
began  to  vitiate  Christianity  itself — Importance  of  ex¬ 
emplifying  the  spiritual  nature  of  our  vocation.  281—325 

ESSAY  IV. 

ON  THE  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE  OF  OUR  LORD’S 
TEACHING. 

“  Learn  of  me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  ill  heart:  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls.” 

“  And  all  bare  him  witness,  and  wondered  at  the  gracious  words  which 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth.” 

The  recollection  of  our  Lord’s  character  necessary,  to 
feel  the  pathos  of  his  teaching.  I.  His  excellences — 
Loveliness  of  his  youth — His  gracious  commission — 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


Purity — Superiority  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived — Inde¬ 
pendent  of  all  surrounding  influences — Universality  of 
his  plans — Qualities  contrasted,  but  harmonized  by 
benevolence — Overflowing  benignity.  II.  His  benev¬ 
olence  as  a  Teacher — Objection  answered — Employed 
parables — Chose  to  be  poor — Taught  gratuitously — 
Simplified  instruction — Teaching  consolatory — Places 
in  which  he  preached,  evinced  condescension — Always 
accessible — Impressed  unwelcomed  truths  by  employ¬ 
ing  affecting  signs  ;  the  little  child  ;  washing  the  dis¬ 
ciples’  feet;  the  last  supper.  III.  Instances  of  the 
tenderness  and  benevolence  of  his  teaching — Predicted 
his  own  death — Blessed  the  poor  in  spirit — Soothed  the 
anxious — Offered  the  weary  rest — Parable  of  the  prodi¬ 
gal — Identifies  himself  with  all  piety — Apostrophizes, 
and  weeps  over  Jerusalem — His  valedictory  discourse 
— His  purposes  of  grace — Universality  of  his  offers — 
Expressions  of  his  benevolence  went  on  increasing  to 
the  last — Conclusion  ;  character  of  Christ  regarded  as 
an  evidence  for  Christianity — An  example — And  an  en¬ 
couragement — His  expostulation  with  the  unbeliever. 
327—383 

ESSAY  Y. 

THE  PRACTICALNESS  OF  OUR  LORD’S  TEACHING. 

“  Be  ye  perfect  even  as  yaur  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.” 

I.  Our  Lord  evinced  his  wisdom,  as  a  practical  teacher, 
by  limiting  his  revelations  to  the  measure  of  our  real 
wants — By  dispensing  with  a  cumbrous  ritual.  II. 
His  favorite  topics,  humility  and  benevolence.  III. 
Preferred  comprehensive  rules  to  a  detailed  enumera¬ 
tion  of  duties.  IV.  His  morality  extends  to  the 
thoughts.  V.  To  motives — Love  of  God.  VI.  Pre¬ 
scribes  for  its  end  the  glory  of  God.  VII.  For  its 
standard,  the  character  of  God.  VIII.  Injunctions, 
simple  and  authoritative — Sanctions.  IX.  Not  only 
commands,  but  enables.  X.  Objections  of  the  incom¬ 
pleteness  of  the  Saviour’s  code,  answered — Happy  ef¬ 
fects  of  his  gospel.  XI.  Impiety  of  those  who  regard 
it  as  a  dispensation  from  holiness.  XII.  Supreme  im¬ 
portance  which  he  ascribed  to  holiness — Aimed  to 
make  earth  resemble  heaven.  384  - 


INTRODUCTION 

TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


The  seal  which  God  put  upon  man,  when  he  made 
him,  was  nothing  less  than  his  own  bright  image. 
What  a  mysterious  creation  !  The  stamp  of  the  Divin¬ 
ity  upon  a  child  of  the  dust  !  What  noble  intellectual 
and  moral  powers  !  What  a  destiny  !  And  can  this 
being,  so  “  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,”  know  him¬ 
self  and  find  out  the  character  of  his  fellows  ?  Is  he 
capable  of  admiring  what  is  great  in  them,  and  imitat¬ 
ing  what  is  good  ? 

These  questions  do  not  need  a  formal  answer — for 
the  natural ,  as  well  as  “  the  proper  study  of  mankind, 
is  man.”  We  are  instinctively  prompted  to  examine 
other  copies  of  this  remarkable  volume,  not  only  to  as¬ 
certain  how  far  they  agree  with  our  own,  but  to  note 
down  whatever  strikes  us  as  peculiar  in  any  of  them. 
Especially  are  all  eyes  attracted  by  intellectual  and 
moral  greatness,  wherever  it  appears. 

Such  men  as  Aristotle,  Bacon,  Pascal,  Edwards,  Mil- 
ton,  Howard,  Washington,  and  Napoleon,  always  have 
had  a  multitude  of  admirers,  and  they  always  will  have. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  the  constituent  ele¬ 
ments  of  greatness  in  such  extraordinary  men,  are  ca¬ 
pable  of  being  exhibited  in  a  variety  of  interesting 
lights.  They  are  like  those  large  bodies,  which  cannot 
be  seen,  on  all  sides,  from  any  one  station  :  or  those 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


wide  and  deep  waters,  which  cannot  be  effectually 
sounded,  by  heaving  the  lead  once,  or  twice,  in  the 
same  place.  The  genius — the  inspiration,  I  was  about 
to  say,  of  a  great  Poet,  or  Philosopher,  or  Reformer,  re¬ 
quires  much  and  deep  reflection,  to  comprehend  it. 
And  in  order  to  do  justice  to  the  master  spirits  of  the 
world,  the  soul  must  be  stirred  by  kindred  impulses. 
Moreover,  when  the  sublime  and  original  conceptions 
of  a  Milton,  or  the  indomitable  daring  of  a  Luther,  or 
John  Knox,  is  to  be  scanned,  a  single  biography,  or  cri- 
tiqe,  however  ably  drawn  up,  does  not  satisfy  us.  It 
just  awakens  our  admiration  and  curiosity.  We  inquire 
more  eagerly  than  ever,  wherein  their  “  great  strength 
lay.”  We  dwell  upon  every  incident  of  their  lives, 
with  new  interest.  We  read  their  works  again  and 
again,  with  increased  satisfaction,  and  eagerly  catch 
every  ray  of  light  which  is  cast  upon  their  characters 
and  writings  by  their  most  gifted  admirers. 

But  no  mere  human  character,  or  work  is  perfect. 
The  profoundest  depths  of  man’s  intellect  can  be  fath¬ 
omed.  In  the  loftiest  flights  of  his  imagination  he  can 
he  followed.  None  of  his  richest  mines  are  inexhausti¬ 
ble.  The  time  must  come,  when  all  will  have  been 
said,  that  can  he  said,  to  exalt  the  character  of  any  in¬ 
dividual  of  our  race,  however  great  his  talents,  or  illus¬ 
trious  his  virtues.  And  this  would  have  been  the  case 
had  sin  never  entered  the  world.  Had  the  men  whom 
we  most  admire,  been  perfectly  holy,  it  would  have 
been  a  limited  perfection  after  all — not  finite ,  merely, 
but  the  perfection  of,  probably,  the  lowest  order  of 
God’s  intelligent  creation.  So  that  in  due  time,  we 
might  have  learned  every  thing  that  could  be  learned 
about  them  ;  might  have  exhausted  our  admiration  up¬ 
on  every  thing  that  was  worthy  to  be  admired. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


In  like  manner,  were  an  angel  to  come  down  from 
heaven,  and  dwell  among  us,  and  unfold  to  us  those 
sublime  mysteries  of  science  and  religion,  which  are 
too  deep  for  human  discovery ;  and  were  he  at  the  same 
time,  to  exhibit  before  our  eyes,  during  a  long  course  of 
years,  a  brilliant  example  of  angelic  benevolence,  what 
an  atmosphere  of  light  and  love  would  it  throw  around 
him.  How  eagerly  should  we  listen  to  his  instructions 
— with  what  absorbing  interest  should  we  study  his 
character  ;  and  with  what  emotions  of  wonder  and  grati¬ 
tude  should  we  follow  him,  as  “  he  went  about  doing 
good  !”  Such  a  heavenly  sojourner,  might  in  due  time 
withdraw  from  the  world,  to  resume  his  golden  harp  be¬ 
fore  the  throne  ;  and  were  he  to  leave  behind  him  a 
single  volume  for  our  perusal,  illustrative  of  his  char¬ 
acter,  and  revealing  more  fully  the  high  purpose  of  his 
mission,  with  what  intense  interest  would  all  his  disciples 
sit  down  to  the  the  study  of  that  volume  ;  how  many 
commentaries  would  be  written  upon  it ;  and  how  much 
more  and  deeper  wisdom  might  it  be  expected  to  em¬ 
body,  than  any  book  of  man’s  composing.  It  would  not 
be  strange,  if  new  views  of  truth,  and  of  the  exalted  in¬ 
tellect  and  benevolence  of  the-  writer  should  be  elicited 
a  hundred  years  after  his  departure.  But  still,  it  would 
be  the  work  of  a  finite  mind — of  one  of  the  lowest,  per¬ 
haps,  on  the  scale  of  angelic  gradation.  The  time 
might  come,  and  come  soon,  compared  with  the  dura¬ 
tion  of  this  world,  when  there  would  be  nothing  more 
for  man  to  learn,  from  such  a  volume. 

Suppose,  again,  that  Gabriel,  or  if  there  be  one  high¬ 
er  than  he,  on  the  mighty  scale — suppose  that  the  first 
archangel  were  to  be  sent  down  to  us,  to  take  our  na¬ 
ture  into  mysterious  union  with  his  own  ;  to  become  a 


XU 


INTRODUCTION. 


man  as  well  as  an  angel ;  suppose  he  were  to  initiate  us 
still  more  deeply  into  the  mysteries  of  science  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  ;  to  set  us  a  perfect  example  of  holy 
obedience  ;  to  sympathize  with  us  in  all  our  afflictions  ; 
and  even  to  suffer  for  our  crimes  ;  what  a  multitude  of 
disciples  and  admirers  would  gather  round  him  and 
hang  upon  his  lips,  and  tender  him  their  most  grateful 
acknowledgments.  And  were  he  in  taking  leave  of 
us,  that  he  might  go  up  and  stand  “  in  the  presence  of 
God,”  to  put  into  our  hands  a  roll  for  us  all  to  copy, 
containing  a  history  of  his  own  life  and  sufferings,  and 
rich  in  the  sublimest  revelations  which  it  would  be  in 
the  power  of  an  archangel  to  make,  how  eagerly  should 
we  break  the  seal,  and  how  uneasy  would  every  one  be 
till  he  had  obtained  his  copy.  How  should  we  pore 
over  such  a  document  day  and  night ;  and  how  many 
“  heavenly  things,”  would  in  all  probability  be  left  for 
other  critics  and  commentators  to  open  up  to  view,  af¬ 
ter  successive  generations  of  admirers  had  passed  away. 
In  so  remarkable  a  case  as  this,  we  should  not  think  it 
overweaning  presumption  in  any  well-instructed  disci¬ 
ple  to  take  the  roll  and  search  within  the  great  seal  for 
others,  which  might  possibly  have  been  overlooked  by 
all  his  predecessors.  It  might  require  thousands  of 
years,  of  deep  study,  to  bring  out  all  the  hidden  wisdom 
of  this  single  angelic  roll.  And  yet,  it  could  not  be  in¬ 
exhaustible  ;  for  it  would  be  the  wisdom,  not  of  an  infi¬ 
nite,  but  of  a  finite  mind.  Though  time  itself  should 
be  too  short  to  open  all  the  seals,  there  will  surely  be 
scope  enough  in  eternity.  The  period  may  arrive  in 
the  everlasting  ages  of  his  future  being,  when  man, 
child  of  the  dust  as  he  is,  will  excel  the  highest  seraph 
in  his  present  knowledge  of  God,  and  the  plan  of  his 


INTRODUCTION. 


Xlll 


government,  and  the  glories  of  his  empire,  as  much  as 
that  seraph  now  excels  the  humblest  saint  on  earth. 

But  we  have  dwelt  too  long,  perhaps,  upon  these 
suppositions.  There  are  facts  connected  with  the  his¬ 
tory  of  this  world,  which  must  strike  the  mind  at  once, 
as  infinitely  surpassing  all  that  it  would  have  ever  en¬ 
tered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  suppose ,  or  conceive. 
Nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  a  voice  of  strange  and 
mysterious  import  was  heard  in  heaven  ;  and  the  more 
mysterious,  because  it  issued  from  the  throne  itself. 
“  Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  wouldst  not,  but  a  body 
hast  thou  prepared  me.  Lo  I  am  come  :  in  the  vol¬ 
ume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me,  I  delight  to  do  thy 
will,  O  my  God  :  yea  thy  law  is  within  my  breast.” 
And  who  is  it,  that  thus  announces  his  purpose  to  visit 
a  guilty  world,  and  become  incarnate  ?  We  first  ask 
the  Prophet  Isaiah,  and  he  answers,  “Unto  us  a  child  is 
born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given  :  and  the  government  shall 
be  upon  his  shoulders  :  his  name  shall  be  called  Won¬ 
derful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  everlasting  Fa¬ 
ther,  the  Prince  of  peace.”  We  next  inquire  of  John, 
the  beloved  disciple,  and  he  replies,  “  In  the  beginning 
was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God. — All  things  were  made  by  him,  and 
without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made. 
In  him  was  life,  and  the  Life  was  the  Light  of  men.” 

“  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  of  the  only  be¬ 
gotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth.”  Then 
we  inquire  of  “the  man  Christ  Jesus”  himself,  “who 
art  thou  ?” — and  this  is  his  remarkable  answer.  “  Be¬ 
fore  Abraham  was  I  am.”  “  I  and  my  Father  are  one.” 
‘‘  For  as  the  Father  raise th  up  the  dead  and  quickeneth 
2 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


them,  even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  he  will.  For 
the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son  :  that  all  men  should  honor  the 
Son  even  as  they  honor  the  Father.”  We  next  inter- 
rogate  the  Apostle  Paul — “  Who  is  this  that  cometh 
from  Edom,  with  dyed  garments  from  Bazrah  ?  This 
that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel,  traveling  in  the  great¬ 
ness  of  his  strength  ?”  And  he  breaks  out  in  adoring 
transport,  “  Without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery 
of  godliness  :  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified 
in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  gentiles, 
believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory.” 
“  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery 
to  be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of  no  reputa¬ 
tion,  and  took  upon  himself  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 
was  made  in  the  likeness  of  man ;  and  being  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obe¬ 
dient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross ;  that  at 
the  name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in 
heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth  ; 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess,  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.”  “In 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  ;  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God,  the  first  born  of  every  creature.  For  by  him  were 
all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  visi¬ 
ble  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  domin¬ 
ions,  or  principalities,  or  powers  :  all  things  were  creat¬ 
ed  by  him,  and  for  him.  And  he  is  before  all  things, 
and  by  him  all  things  consist.” 

Finally  ;  we  turn  to  the  beloved  disciple  once  more, 
and  ask  him  what  he  saw  and  heard  in  the  visions  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


Patinos,  and  he  answers,  “  I  beheld  and  heard  the  voice 
of  many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  living 
ones  and  the  elders  ;  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  and  thousands  of  thous¬ 
ands,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb 
that  was  slain,  to  receive  power  and  riches  and  wisdom 
and  strength  and  honor  and  glory  and  blessing.  And 
every  creature  which  is  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth 
and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea  and  all, 
that  are  in  them,  heard  I,  saying,  Blessing  and  honor 
and  glory  and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the 
throne  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  And  the 
four  living  ones  said,  Amen.  And  the  four  and  twenty 
elders  fell  down  and  worshiped  him  that  liveth  forever 
and  ever.” 

And  was  the  earth  ever  honored  and  blest  with  this 
divine  and  glorious  presence  ?  If  what  we  read  in  the 
scriptures,  of  the  incarnation,  the  miracles,  the  preach¬ 
ing,  the  death,  the  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God  be 
true,  it  is  the  mystery  of  all  mysteries.  I  do  not  expect 
ever  to  comprehend  it.  The  more  I  reflect  upon  it,  the 
more  amazing  does  it  appear.  What  infinite  opposites 
meet  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  “  The  mighty 
God,”  and  yet  a  helpless  child  !  The  Creator  of  all 
worlds,  and  yet  without  a  place  “  to  lay  his  head  !” 
“  God ,  manifest  in  the  flesh  .'”  A  man,  and  yet  infinite¬ 
ly  higher  than  the  angels  !  Equal  with  the  Father,  in 
dignity  and  glory  and  blessedness  ;  and  yet  at  the  same 
moment  “  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief!” 
A  conqueror  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  in  the  very  hour 
that  they  prevailed  against  him  !  How  can  I  believe 
it  P  Was  the  divine  nature  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
transformed  into  the  human  nature  of  the  son  of  Mary  ? 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


And  was  the  human  nature  of  the  son  of  Mary  changed 
into  the  divine  nature  ?  No — but  the  two  were  myste¬ 
riously  united,  so  as  to  become  one  person.  “  The  man 
Christ  Jesus,”  was  not  “  the  Lord  from  heaven  but 
“  in  him  dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.” 
The  Deity  did  not  suffer  and  sink  under  the  agonies  of 
Calvary,  and  yet  in  the  person  of  Jesus,  God  there  pur¬ 
chased  the  church  with  his  own  blood.  A  great  myste¬ 
ry,  but  no  absurdity.  Above  reason,  but  not  contrary 
to  it.  There  was  the  bloody  cross.  There  were  the 
thorns,  the  nails,  and  the  spear.  There  the  plan  of  re¬ 
demption  was  more  fully  unfolded,  than  ever  before,  to 
the  admiring  gaze  of  angels.  There  it  was,  that  the 
meek  and  holy  sufferer  “  bore  our  sins  and  carrid  our 
sorrows;”  and  it  was  there,  that  “mercy  and  truth 
met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  embraced  each 
other.” 

Here  then,  Christian  reader,  is  a  theme  worthy  of  an 
angel’s  pen — yea,  of  more  than  an  angel’s  intellect. 
Here  is  the  grand  radiant  point,  towards  which  all  the 
infinities  converge  ! — infinite  wisdom — infinite  love — 
infinite  justice — infinite  mercy!  Depths,  heights,  length, 
breadth — all  passing  knowledge  !  Innumerable  pens 
have  been  employed  upon  the  life,  character,  preaching 
and  mediatorial  work  of  Christ.  Hundreds  of  commen¬ 
taries,  more  or  less  critical  and  extended,  have  been 
written  upon  the  four  gospels.  But  have  “  the  seven 
seals”  all  been  opened  ?  Is  there  nothing  left,  to  re¬ 
ward  the  toil  of  those  who  may  hereafter  devote  their  best 
powers  to  the  study  and  elucidation  of  these  sacred 
books  ?  “  Who  by  searching  can  find  out  God,  or  the 

Almighty  unto  perfection?”  The  character  of  Christ 
is  an  infinitely  perfect  character.  The  gospels,  in 
which  he  is  exhibited,  as  the  divine  object  of  our  faith, 


INTRODUCTION. 


XVII 


and  love,  and  adoration  ;  and  which  contain  the  record 
of  his  miracles,  doctrines,  sufferings,  and  final  triumph, 
were  “  given  by  inspiration  of  God,”  and  “  the  treas¬ 
ures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge”  which  they  contain,  are 
literally  inexhaustible.  After  all  the  “  living  water” 
that  has  been  drawn  from  these  “wells  of  salvation,” 
there  is  no  diminution  of  the  supply.  Were  a  thou¬ 
sand  of  the  mos  tgifted  and  holy  men  now  on  earth,  to 
“  set  the  Lord  Jesus  always  before  them,”  and  spend 
their  whole  lives  in  studying  his  adorable  character, 
they  would  be  so  far  from  exhausting  the  theme,  that 
other  thousands  more  gifted  and  more  holy  might  find 
ample  scope  for  the  employment  of  their  powers,  down 
to  the  end  of  time.  However  great  and  good  the  last 
writer,  upon  the  life,  character  and  teaching  of  Christ 
may  be,  and  with  all  the  helps  which  he  will  be  able  to 
command,  he  must  leave  the  divine  portraiture  still  unfin¬ 
ished.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  that  the  mysteries  of  re¬ 
demption,  including  the  divine  and  mediatorial  charac¬ 
ter,  the  incarnation  and  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of 
God,  will  employ  the  minds,  the  hearts  and  the  tongues  of 
the  Redeemed,  through  everlasting  ages  ;  and  that  new 
developments  of  the  perfections  and  “  glory  of  God,  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  will  be  made  forever  and  ever.” 

In  this  view  of  the  subject,  (and  I  am  sure  it  must  be 
the  right  view,)  however  well  any  man,  or  number  of 
men  may  have  written  upon  the  preaching,  miracles,  or 
offices  of  Christ,  it  affords  no  objection,  or  discourage¬ 
ment  to  others,  who  may  wish  to  occupy  the  same 
ground.  No  one,  indeed,  should  be  encouraged  to  put 
forth  the  results  of  his  labors,  unless  he  has  something 
to  say,  which  is  worthy  of  being  presented  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  public — for  time  and  money  are  too  precious,  to  be 
2* 


XV111 


INTRODUCTION. 


thrown  away  upon  mere  common  place  ink  and  paper. 
But  when  a  man  of  decided  talents  and  piety,  lays  out 
his  strength  upon  any  one  of  the  great  topics  just  al¬ 
luded  to,  and  is  happy  in  his  method  of  treating  it,  he 
deserves  our  thanks,  for  putting  into  our  hands  this 
new  help  to  Christian  edification. 

The  author  of  the  present  work,  is  the  pastor  of  an 
independent  church,  in  Epsom,  Eng.  ;  and  is  “  well  re¬ 
ported  of  by  the  brethren.”  It  being  his  object  in  this 
volume,  to  bring  us  directly  to  Christ,  for  divne  instruc¬ 
tion,  he  entitles  it,  The  Great  Teacher.  The  book 
contains  five  Essays,  of  considerable  length,  and  on  the 
following  important  topics.  I.  The  authority  of  our 
Lord’s  teaching.  II.  The  originality  of  our  Lord’s 
teaching ,  under  seven  distinct  heads.  III.  The  spirit¬ 
uality  of  our  Lord’s  teaching.  IV.  On.  the  tenderness 
and  benevolence  of  our  Lord's  teaching.  V.  The  prac¬ 
ticalness  of  our  Lord’s  teaching.  In  reading  these  Es¬ 
says,  I  have  been  exceedingly  interested,  as  I  am  sure 
every  person  must  be,  who  is  pleased  to  find  weigthy 
and  well  digested  thoughts,  imbued  with  deep  Christian 
feeling,  and  clothed  in  perspicuous  and  polished  lan¬ 
guage.  Mr.  Harris  is  a  writer  of  much  more  than  or¬ 
dinary  intellectual  powers  and  cultivation.  He  writes 
like  one,  who  has  long  been  accustomed  to  “  sit  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus,”  and  has  eminently  profited  under  his 
teaching.  Instead  of  asking  what  other  men  have 
thought  of  The  Great  Teacher ,  and  borrowing  their 
opinions,  to  help  make  out  a  respectable  volume,  he  has 
evidently  heard  for  himself ;  and  he  gives  us  his  own 
impressions  vividly  and  forcibly,  just  as  he  received 
them.  Such  a  book  as  this,  is  not  often  written  before 
the  meridian  of  life,  and  never  either  before  or  after, 
without  deep  and  protracted  meditation. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XIX 


I  do  not  wonder  at  the  avidity  which  is  hastening  its 
wide  circulation  in  England  ;  nor  at  the  high  terms,  in 
which  it  is  recommended,  by  so  many  of  the  best 
judges  of  its  merits  in  that  country.  I  am  sure,  that  it 
deserves  an  equally  rapid  and  wide  circulation  here. 
That  disciple  must  have  thought  a  great  deal  more,  or  a 
great  deal  less,  than  nine  tenths  of  his  Christian  breth¬ 
ren,  of  the  striking  peculiarities  of  our  Lord’s  preach¬ 
ing,  who  can  read  these  highly  original  and  finished 
Essays,  without  having  his  mind  enlightened,  his  heart 
warmed,  and  his  admiration  of  the  Great  Teacher  very 
much  increased.  “  Blessed,  indeed,  are  those  ser¬ 
vants,”  who  “  hear  his  sayings,  and  do  them.” 

Amherst  College ,  Dec.  1,  1835. 


' 


PREFACE. 


When  the  subject  of  the  following  Essays  fxrstengaged 
my  thoughts,  as  many  as  twelve  or  fifteen  characteris¬ 
tics  of  our  Lord’s  Teaching  presented  themselves  to 
notice,  all  of  which  I  hoped  to  be  able  to  illustrate  in  a 
volume.  But  the  expansive  nature  of  the  subject  soon 
warned  me  of  the  necessity  of  selection.  For  this  end, 

I  divided  the  series  into  two  classes,  of  primary  and 
secondary  importance  ;  intending  to  confine  myself  to 
the  former.  The  same  cause,  however,  reduced  me 
again  to  compound  with  my  intentions,  and  to  omit 
some  even  of  primary  interest.  Of  these  I  may  be 
allowed  to  specify  two  : — The  Evangelicalness  of  our 
Lord’s  Teaching, — and  the  striking  peculiarity  that  he 
was  his  own  prevailing  subject.  These  topics,  indeed, 
though  not  formally  introduced,  will  be  found  to  be 
illustrated,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  in  various  parts 
of  the  volume.  But  on  each  of  them  I  will  here  take 
the  opportunity  of  recording  a  few  remarks. 

If  any  are  disposed  to  wonder  why  our  Lord  should 
have  said  so  much  less,  in  the  way  of  direct  assertion, 
concerning  his  personal  dignity,  than  his  apostles,  let 
it  be  remembered — that  it  was  not  his  object  to  give  a 
full  verbal  exposition  of  his  personal  claims;  that,  dur¬ 
ing  his  earthly  ministry,  it  was  his  aim,  and  a  part  of 
his  humiliation,  partially  to  conceal  them  ;  to  observe 
a  medium  course  between  the  extremes  of  a  mean  ob¬ 
scurity  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  overwhelming  gran¬ 
deur  on  the  other ;  to  provide  that  human  agency  might 
be  left  free  and  unconstrained  in  its  conduct  towards 
him  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  his  love  on  the  other, 
might  move  on  to  the  cross,  unthwarted  and  undisturb¬ 
ed  by  man ;  that  the  solemn  oblation  of  himself,  which 
was  the  act  to  which  all  his  ministry  subserved,  for  his 
whole  life  was  only  a  preface  to  his  death,  might  nei¬ 
ther  be  prevented  nor  disregarded  :  that  he  left  his 


/ 


XXli  PREFACE. 

dignity  to  be  inferred  chiefly  from  his  actions,  and  from 
a  comparison  of  his  life  with  the  writings  of  the  proph¬ 
ets  :  that  his  divine  greatness  having  long  been  the 
subject  of  prophecy,  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  do 
more  on  this  head  than  to  identify  himself  with  the 
prophecy.  And  he  did  this, — explicitly  affirming  that 
they  wrote  of  him.  Bringing  all  the  rays  of  prophetic 
light  together,  he  wreathed  them  into  a  crown  of  glory 
for  his  own  head.- 

But,  as  if  to  compensate  himself  for  the  arrangement 
which  required  the  temporary  obscuration  of  his  great¬ 
ness  he  was  emphatically  his  own  subject.  He  himself 
was  almost  invariably  the  point  from  which  he  started, 
the  theme  on  which  he  enlarged,  or  the  center  to  which 
he  returned.  If  he  adverted  to  the  great  elements  of 
nature,  it  was  only  to  pjoclaim  them  emblems  of  him¬ 
self.  If  he  spoke  of  the  greatness  of  persons  and  ob¬ 
jects  which  his  hearers  reverenced  next  to  the  Deity, 
it  was  only  to  announce  himself  as  greater  than  they. 
If  he  displaced  the  types  and  rites  of  the  Jewish  church, 
it  was  that  he  might  occupy  their  place  himself ;  clear¬ 
ing  the  entire  area  of  the  church,  to  fill  it  with  his  own 
glory.  He  turned  all  the  great  things  of  nature,  and  of 
the  ancient  church,  into  so  many  marginal  references 
to  the  all-absorbing  theme,  himself ;  and  he  frequently 
did  it  in  a  manner  which  shewed  that  he  considered 
them  dignified  by  being  so  employed.  He  carried  this 
same  spirit  of  self-aggrandizement  into  the  presence  of 
God ;  he  predicated  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  himself 
should  come  and  wait  on  his  glory.  He  is  distinguish¬ 
ed  from  every  other  teacher  by  this,  that  while  he  spoke 
of  lowliness  as  his  chief  characteristic,  he  seldom  re¬ 
leased  the  attention  of  his  hearers  from  himself — and 
yet  the  heart  of  the  Christian  is  sensible  of  no  inconsis¬ 
tency  here,  for  it  feels,  that  while  what  he  said  of  him¬ 
self  is  measurable,  what  he  left  unsaid  and  unrevealed, 
is  immeasurable. 

On  the  other  subject  named — the  evangelical  nature 
of  our  Lord’s  teaching — perhaps,  the  first  thought  that 
occurs,  relates  to  the  fact  of  our  Lord’s  discourses  con¬ 
taining  less  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  grace  than  the 
teaching  of  the  apostles.  How  is  the  striking  contrast 
between  the  gospels  and  epistles,  in  this  important 


PREFACE. 


XX111 


respect,  to  be  accounted  for  ?  The  following  consider¬ 
ations  may  furnish  a  satisfactory  reply.  1.  It  was  only 
in  accordance  with  his  own  arrangements  and  predic¬ 
tions  that  it  sohuld  be  so.  Hence,  he  foretold  that  his 
lirst  disciples  should  do  greater  works  than  he  did ; 
that  their  success  should  be  greater  ;  and  that  it  was 
reserved  for  the  Spirit  to  lead  them  into  all  truth.  2. 
The  very  limited  and  gross  apprehensions  of  the  disci¬ 
ples  imposed  a  restraint  on  the  teaching  of  Christ,  and 
determined  the  measure  of  his  divine  communications. 
Though  he  had  “  many  things  to  say”  to  them,  he  pro¬ 
nounced  them  unable  to  bear  the  disclosures.  And  what 
would  be  the  things  which,  under  these  circumstances, 
he.  would  necessarily  withhold — what,  but  the  more 
spiritual  truths  and  peculiar  doctrines  of  salvation?  3. 
The  object  and  limit  of  his  instructions  appear  to  hav.e 
been,  to  inculcate  the  nature  and  necessity  of  that 
moral  excellence  which  God  and  heaven  require  ;  in 
order  that  he  might  make  us  feel  the  want  of  it,  pre¬ 
paratory  to  the  offer  of  his  Holy  Spirit  to  produce  it. 
The  full  and  explicit  exposition  of  the  evangelical  sys¬ 
tem,  therefore,  did  not  come  within  the  pre-determined 
scope  of  his  teaching.  For,  4.  He  came  less  to  preach 
salvation  than  to  procure  it ;  to  make  known  redemp¬ 
tion,  not  by  a  verbal  and  detailed  announcement  of  its 
plan,  but  by  the  visible  accomplishment  of  its  condi¬ 
tions  ;  to  be  the  gospel,  and  to  make  it.  He  came  to 
supply  the  facts  out  of  which  the  evangelical  doctrines 
are  deduced,'  and  which  must  philosophically  precede 
them.  For  what  is  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  gospel  but 
the  exposition  of  these  facts  ?  their  transplantation  out 
of  the  historical  or  external  world,  into  the  intellectual 
or  spiritual  ?  5.  It  might,  however,  be  easily  shown, 

that  whatever  is  essential  to  the  Christian  system  is  to 
be  found,  in  semine ,  in  our  Lord’s  teaching.  His  di¬ 
vinity,  his  atonement,  the  influence  of  his  Spirit,  and 
all  the  leading  doctrines  of  grace  are  to  be  found  there 
in  a  condensed  state,  in  a  quintessence.  If  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  Christianity,  as  taught  by  the  apostles,  form  a 
chain  of  evangelical  truth,  the  first  link,  the  very  staple 
ring,  is  to  be  found  in  the  teaching  of  Christ.  The 
humble  incrustation  cannot  conceal  from  the  eye  of  the 
mineralogist  the  precious  gem  that  dwells  within,  and  a 


XXIV 


PREFACE. 


single  blow,  propbrly  given,  will  lay  bare  its  peculiar 
primitive  or  fundamental  form:  many  of  our  Lord’s 
sayings  have  a  signification  and  a  value  far  beyond 
their  unpretending  appearance ;  nor  is  it  difficult  for 
the  Christian  disciple  to  discover  in  them  the  first  forms, 
the  simple  elements  of  evangelical  truth,  of  which  the 
teaching  of  the  apostles  was  only  the  lamina ,  the  natu¬ 
ral  accretions  afterwards  formed.  His  sayings  are 
texts  ;  their  writings  are  only  the  necessary  amplifica¬ 
tion  and  comment.  Their  instructions  are  not  so  prop¬ 
erly  a  new  revelation,  as  the  result  of  the  opening  of 
their  eyes  to  behold  the  wonderful  things  contained  in 
his  teaching.  6.  And,  finally,  the  uniform  mode  of 
divine  revelation,  in  all  ages,  required  that  the  doctrines 
Qf  grace  should  be  gradually  developed;  proceeding 
from  the  obscurity  of  dawn  in  our  Lord’s  teaching,  to 
the  radiance  of  noon-day  in  that  of  the  apostles. 

Since  writing  the  preceding  paragraph,  I  have  been 
surprised  at  meeting  with  the  following  remarks,  bear¬ 
ing  on  the  same  subject :  which,  as  they  occur  in  a 
popular  work  of  the  present  day,  Abbott’s  “  Corner 
Stone,”  deserve  a  moment’s  attention.  “  Others  are 
embarrassed  when  they  think  on  this  subject (that  is, 
on  the  greater  prominence  given  to  the  object  and  effi¬ 
cacy  of  our  Lord’s  death  in  the  epistles  compared  with 
the  gospels ;)  “  they  do  not  know  how  to  reconcile  the 
seeming  inconsistency,  though  they  endeavor  to  dimin¬ 
ish  it,  as  far  as  possible,  by  exaggerating  and  emphasiz¬ 
ing  the  little  'which  Jesus  Christ  did  say ,  in  regard  to  his 

sufferings  and  death . He  who  cannot  take  the 

directions  which  Christ  or  John  gave,  for  beginning  a 
life  of  piety  by  simple  repentance  for  the  past,  without 
adding  something  from  his  own  theological  stores,  or 
forcing  the  language  to  express  ichat  never  could  have 
been  understood  by  those  who  originally  heard  it,  he  can¬ 
not  be  studying  the  gospel  inthe  right  spirit.”  To  put  a 
forced  and  mystical  construction  on  any  part  of  the 
oracles  of  God,  is  an  act  of  irreverence  which  cannot  be 
sufficiently  deprecated.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  put  them 
to  the  torture,  compelling  them  to  utter  what  they  nev¬ 
er  meant ;  to  turn  from  them,  or  to  drown  their  voice 
with  our  own,  before  they  have  uttered  all  the  mind  of 
the  Spirit,  is  another. 


PREFACE. 


XXV 


The  statements  cited  appear  at  least  to  be  unconsid¬ 
ered  and  unguarded  ;  and,  on  the  principle  which  they 
seem  to  involve, — namely,  that  the  understanding  of 
our  Lord’s  original  hearers  was  the  measure  of  his 
meaning, — I  will  venture  to  remark ;  First,  that,  in 
direct  contradiction  to  this  proposition,  it  is  a  well- 
known  canon  of  scripture  interpretation,  that  “  the 
sayings  of  our  Saviour  are  to  be  apprehended,  not  mere¬ 
ly  in  that  sense  to  which  the  views  of  his  hearers  at  the 
time  could  reach,  but  in  the  sense  which  he  himself 
attached  to  them.”  Second,  his  own  practice  contains 
a  warrant  for  this  canon  ;  for  how  often  do  we  find  him 
applying  it  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament : 
expounding  some  of  its  truths  in  a  sense  more  spiritual 
and  profound,  than  even  the  original  propounders 
themselves  conceived  Third,  his  express  declarations, 
and  the  confessions  of  his  apostles,  harmonize  with  it. 
They  frankly  acknowledge,  that  when  he  adverted  to 
the  nature  and  necessity  of  his  sufferings,  they  under¬ 
stood  not  his  meaning.  He  reproached  them  with  their 
slowness  of  apprehension.  He  promised  his  Spirit 
to  recall  his  sayings  to  their  minds  as  so  many  lost 
truths.  He  intimated  that  he  had  left  in  their  posses¬ 
sion  truths  of  which  they  little  suspected  the  value. 
And  after  his  resurrection,  “  he  said  unto  them,  these 
are  the  things  which  I  spake  unto  you,  while  I  was  yet 

with  you . Then  opened  he  their  understanding 

that  they  might  understand  the  scriptures;” — obviously 
implying,  that,  up  to  that  moment  they  had  not  under¬ 
stood  his  evangelical  expositions  of  them.  Fourth,  it 
seems  to  be  necessary  for  the  moral  development  of  our 
nature,  that  the  truth  employed  should  be  such  as  is 
itself  capable  of  constant  expansion  and  new  develop¬ 
ments  ; — that,  like  its  Divine  original,  it  should  bright¬ 
en  while  we  are  looking  at  it ;  heighten  while  we  are 
aspiring  to  reach  it ;  and  thus  elevate  us  to  itself,  the 
standard  of  perfection. 

Accordingly,  all  the  first  lessons  set  us  by  God  in 
nature  and  providence,  appear  to  be  constructed  on  this 
principle.  He  who  becomes  a  student  of  nature  soon 
finds  that  he  is  bending  over  a  fountain  which  deepens 
beneath  his  gaze.  And  what  is  the  Jewish  economy,  if 
we  desire  to  reach  its  interior  truths,  but  a  vast,  por- 
3 


XXVI 


PREFACE* 


found,  elaborated  enigma, — to  which  the  gospel  indeed 
brings  us  the  key, — but  the  opening  and  exploration  of 
which  is  yet  incomplete  :  excusing,  if  not  justifying  the 
opinion  of  Origin,  that  “  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
reasons  of  the  lsraelitic  economy,  and  of  all  the  Levit- 
ical  laws,  belongs  to  the  privileges  of  the  future  life.” 
And  the  teaching  of  Christ  seems  to  possess  the  same 
profound  and  comprehensive  character.  Comparative 
anatomy  informs  us,  not  only  that  animated  nature 
forms  an  ascending  series  of  beings,  beginning  with 
few  organs,  and  increasing  in  number,  complexity,  and 
finish,  up  to  man ;  but  that  in  some  of  the  earliest  and 
simplest  links  of  the  living  chain,  there  is  traceable  a 
promise,  a  mute  prophecy  of  all  the  rest,  a  rough  out¬ 
line  of  all  that  is  to  follow  ;  that  many  processes  are 
sketched  in  the  lower  animals,  the  completion  of  which 
is  reserved  for  the  composition  of  man.  In  like  man¬ 
ner,  the  entire  system  of  Judaism  was  one  compacted 
prophecy  of  the  gospel,  a  presentiment  of  Christianity  ; 
in  which  the  great  doctrines  and  virtues,  which  it  is 
the  province  of  the  new  dispensation  to  develop  and 
mature,  may  be  found  in  the  embryos  and  elements. 
And  on  the  same  principle,  in  the  sayings  of  Christ,  the 
gospel  may  be  found  thrown  out  in  its  rudiments,  “  For 
Christ,”  saith  Milton,  “gives  no  full  comments,  or 
continued  discourses,  but  speaks  oft  in  monosyllables, 
like  a  master  scattering  the  heavenly  grain  of  his  doc¬ 
trine  like  pearls  here  and  there,  which  requires  a  skilful 
and  laborious  gatherer.”  His  teaching  is  the  seed-plot 
in  which  the  great  doctrines  of  grace  were  first  sown, 
to  be  afterwards  transplanted  and  cultivated  in  the  in¬ 
spired  ministry  of  the  apostles,  where  they  have  room 
to  luxuriate  and  yield  in  perfection  the  fruit  of  life. 

Considerations  like  these  embolden  us  to  suppose,  not 
merely  that  the  whole  evangelical  system  as  developed 
by  the  apostles,  lies,  in  its  germ,  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ,  but  that  such  is  the  fullness,  the  seminal  char¬ 
acter  of  his  teaching,  that  even  their  epistles  do  not 
exhaust  it.  That  they  have  put  us  in  possession  of  every 
essential  truth,  we  admit ;  that  any  fundamental  doc¬ 
trine  remains  to  be  discovered,  cannot  for  a  moment  be 
immagined ;  but  it  may  be  suggested,  that  even  with 
their  inspired  epistles  in  our  hand,  and  regarding  those 


PREFACE. 


XXV11 


epistles  in  the  light  of  commentaries  on  the  sayings  of  our 
Lord,  there  yet  remain  to  be  discovered  in  his  teaching 
new  aspects  of  some  truths,  the  immeasurable  compass 
of  others,  and  harmonies  subsisting  between  them  all, 
beyond  the  perception  of  ordinary  vision  ;  and  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  which  is  reserved  to  reward  the  pious 
industry  of  the  devout  and  vigorous  mind. 

The  church  of  God  has  been  too  generally  content 
with  tlie  great  surface-truths  of  revelation, — those 
which  we  have  only  to  stoop  for  in  order  to  possess, — 
but  which  are  made  so  obvious  and  placed  so  near,  not 
as  a  premium  to  indolence,  but  in  accommodation  to 
our  moral  incuriousness  and  necessities;  not  as  a  dis¬ 
pensation  from  diligent  investigation,  but  as  an  allure¬ 
ment  to  it  where  it  can  be  made,  and  to  render  it  unne¬ 
cessary  where  it  cannot.  “The  kingdom  of  heaven'’ — 
in  the  sense  of  celestial  truth — “is  like  treasure  hid  in 
a  field ;  the  which  when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth  ; 
and,  for  joy  thereof,  goeth,  and  selleth  all  that  he 
hath,  and  buyeth  that  field;”  and  buyeth  it  in  order 
that  he  may  ransack,  and  turn  up  every  part  of  it,  and 
make  himself  master  of  all  its  treasures.  And  further, 
it  is  as  if  the  same,  man,  while  digging  for  more  coins 
and  concealed  jewels,  should  unexpectedly  happen  on  a 
vein  of  precious  ore.  Hitherto,  we  have  done  little 
more  than  collect,  estimate,  and  classify  the  more  acces¬ 
sible  treasures.  But  let  the  shaft  which  is  already 
begun,  be  sunk  deep  enough,  and  the  labors  of  the  mine 
be  properly  conducted,  and  the  discovery  of  many  a 
rich  and  precious  lode  will  demonstrate  that  the  great 
globe  itself  is  not  more  interlaced  with  golden  veins, 
and  filled  with  precious  things,  than  the  field  of  revela¬ 
tion  :  the  storehouse  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ. 

This,  indeed,  is  predicable  of  every  part  of  Scripture  ; 
but,  for  the  reasons  already  glanced  at,  it  applies  espe¬ 
cially  to  the  teaching  of  Christ ;  and  if  there  be  one 
part  of  his  teaching  to  which  it  applies  more  emphati¬ 
cally  than  to  another,  I  would  venture  to  suggest  that  it 
is  to  what  he  taught  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
“He  shall  not  speak  of  himself,”  said  Christ;  and,  as 
if  to  supply  the  deficiency,  to  reward  and  provide  for 
that  disinterested  and  emphatic  silence  of  the  Divine 


xxvm 


PREFACE. 


Spirit  concerning  himself,  our  Lord  made  him  the  great 
theme  of  his  own  last  discourses  and  promises.  And 
when  was  he  more  original  and  explicit  than  when 
dwelling  on  this  subject?  What  a  vast  track  of  new 
truth  did  he  add  to  the  domains  of  faith,  all  fertilized 
and  enriched  with  the  effluence  of  the  Spirit !  On 
what  topic  was  he  more  evangelical  than  on  this? — 
even  antedating  the  style  of  the  epistles,  and  leaving 
little  if  any  thing  for  them  to  add  either  in  unction  or 
in  fullness.  What  subject  did  he  equally  rely  on  to 
console  his  disciples,  and  to  fill  them  with  expectation 
in  the  prospect  of  his  own  departure  ?  He  was  in  search 
of  the  strongest  solace  ;  and  he  had  an  infinite  variety 
of  subjects  to  choose  from  ;  but  out  of  all  that  multitude 
the  topic  on  whieh  he  chose  chiefly  to  insist  was  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  what  lofty  things  did 
he  predicate  concerning  him  !  What  names  of  great¬ 
ness  and  goodness  did  he  bestow  on  him  !  He  made 
him  the  great  promise  of  his  new  dispensation  !  And 
yet,  what  doctrine,  what  leading  doctrine  at  least,  is 
less  insisted  on  in  the  church  than  the  doctrine  of  divine 
influence  ?  And,  consequently,  what  promise  is  less 
fulfilled  to  the  church  thajr  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  ? 
It  is  true,  an  occasional  sermon  is  preached  on  the  sub¬ 
ject,  just  to  satisfy  the  sense  of  duty  :  and  an  occasion¬ 
al  restlessness  is  observable  in  parts  of  the  church  ;  but, 
alas  !  it  is  a  starting  in  sleep,  rather  than  awaking  out 
of  it ; — like  the  spasmodic  motions  of  a  person  who  is 
visited  in  sleep  by  the  reproachful  remembrance  of  an 
important  duty  which  he  has  consciously  neglected  ;  it 
is  the  involuntary  agitations  of  the  slumbering  church, 
convulsively  answering  to  the  unwelcome  reproaches 
of  the  unslumbering  conscience.  Other  prophecies  are 
considered  ;  but  the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  the  great  un¬ 
fulfilled  prophecy  of  the  gospel,  is  doomed,  by  general 
consent,  to  stand  over  for  future  consideration.  Other 
blessings  are  desired  ;  but  this,  which  would  bring  all 
blessings  in  its  train  ;  which  is  offered  in  an  abundance 
corresponding  to  its  infinite  plenitude,  an  abundance  of 
which  the  capacity  of  the  recipient  is  to  be  the  only 
limit ;  of  this  we  are  satisfied  with  just  so  much  as  will 
save  our  sleep  from  deepening  into  death.  Each  falling 
shower — consecrated  emblem  of  divine  influence — the 


PREFACE. 


XXIX 


scantiest  that  moistens  the  thirsty  earth,  descends  more 
copiously  than  the  offered  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  reproaches  us  with  the  spiritual  drought  of  the 
church.  And  so  long  have  we  accustomed  ourselves 
to  be  content  with  little  things,  that  we  have  gone  far 
in  disqualifying  ourselves  for  the  reception  of  great 
things  ;  the  revivals  of  the  new  world  are  still  regarded 
by  many  “  as  idle  tales.” 

The  church  itself  requires  conversion.  We  pray  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world ;  but  the  church  itself, 
though  in  another,  yet  in  a  sober  and  substantial  sense, 
needs  a  similar  blessing.  The  object  of  conversion  is 
two-fold  ;  personal,  and  relative  ;  to  bless  us,  and  to 
make  us  blessings.  Individual  conversion  accomplishes 
the  first  object,  by  placing  us  in  a  personal  and  evan¬ 
gelical  relation  to  Christ ;  the  second  can  only  be  scrip- 
turally  effected  by  the  collection  and  organization  of 
those  who  are  so  related  to  Christ  into  a  church,  and  by 
that  church  advancing  forwards  and  placing  itself  in  an 
evangelical  relation  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  Now  the  pre¬ 
vailing  sin  of  Christians  is,  that  they  are  inclined  to 
stop  short  at  the  first  of  these  stages.  They  are,  per¬ 
haps,  sufficiently  alive  to  the  importance  of  preaching 
Christ  as  the  author  of  redemption  ;  for  they  have  their 
own  personal  experience  in  evidence  of  its  necessity  ; 
but  they  are  not  proportionally  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
divine  influence  as  the  means  of  usefulness  ;  for  of  that 
they  have  not  the  same  evidence.  The  conversion  to 
Christ  as  indiviudals,  was  scarcely  more  necessary  to 
answer  the  first  aim  of  the  gospel,  in  their  own  salva¬ 
tion,  than  their  conversion  to  the  Spirit,  in  their  collec¬ 
tive  capacity,  is  necessary  to  answer  the  second,  in  the 
salvation  of  others.  I  say  their  conversion  to  the 
Spirit ; — for  the  change  necessary  has  all  the  character¬ 
istics  of  conversion  ; — conviction  of  guilt  in  neglecting 
his  agency,  a  perception  of  his  necessity  and  suitable¬ 
ness,  and  earnest  applications  for  his  heavenly  influ¬ 
ence. 

That  a  doctrine  of  divine  influence  has  a  place  in  the 
creed  of  the  faithful  we  admit;  but  it  is  one  thing  to 
assent  to  its  truth  and  importance,  and  a  very  different 
thing  to  have  a  deep  and  practical  persuasion  of  it. 
That  the  Holy  Spirit  is  at  present  imparted  to  the 
3* 


XXX 


PREFACE. 


church  to  a  certain  degree,  is  evident  from  its  existence. 
For  every  believer  is  the  production  of  the  Spirit ;  car¬ 
ries  about  in  his  own  person  signatures  and  proofs  of 
divine  operations;  and  thus  forms  an  epitome  and 
pledge  of  the  eventual  conversion  of  the  world.  But. 
as  to  the  measure  in  which  his  divine  influence  is  af¬ 
forded — who  has  not  deplored  its  sanctiness?  From  the 
earliest  dawn  of  the  reformation  to  the  present  hour, 
this  has  been  the  great  burden  of  the  church.  What 
writer,  of  even  ordinary  piety,  has  not  bewailed  and 
recorded  it  as  the  standing  reproach  and  grief  of  his 
day  P  Look  back — and  what  do  you  behold  ? — a  pro¬ 
cession  of  mourners,  nearly  all  the  living  and  eminent 
piety  of  the  time,  dressed  in  penitential  sackcloth,  mov¬ 
ing  through  the  cemetery  of  the  church  as  through  a 
Golgotha,  and  exclaiming  in  tears,  “  Gome  from  the 
four  winds,  O  breath,  and  breathe  upon  these  slain  that 
they  may  live.”  What  do  you  behold  P  “  the  priests, 
the  ministers  of  the  Lord,  sanctifying  a  fast,  calling  a 
solemn  assembly,”  lamenting  that  so  few  attend  the 
solemn  call,  and  then  advancing,  a  mournful  train, 
casting  themselves  down,  and  lying  prostrate  at  the 
foot  of  the  throne  of  grace,  and  as  the  representatives  of 
the  church,  exclaiming,  “  Behold,  O  Lord,  a  poor  com¬ 
pany  of  creatures  gasping  for  life  !  thy  Spirit  is  vital 
breath  ;  we  are  ready  to  die,  if  thy  Spirit  breathe  not. 
Pity  thine  own  offspring,  thou  Father  of  mercies.  Take 
from  us,  keep  from  us  what  thou  wilt,  but,  Oh,  with¬ 
hold  not  thine  own  Spirit.”  Such  were  the  actual 
terms  in  which  the  great  and  pious  Howe  led  the  sup¬ 
plications  of  a  solemn  assembty,  in  his  day,  convened 
to  cry  for  the  Spirit.  And  has  it  not  been  on  the  lips 
of  the  mouners  in  Zion,  an  unbroken  procession,  ever 
since  ?  And  does  it  not  express  the  sense  of  the  church 
in  the  present  day  P  As  we  have  fallen  into  the  train, 
and  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  mourning  suppliants, 
have  we  not  deplored  the  absence  of  the  Spirit  as  the 
great  affliction  of  the  church,  and  implored  his  imparta- 
tion  as  our  great  want,  our  only  remedy  ? 

But  “the  Spirit  will  be  poured  out  from  on  high  ” — 
would  that  the  importunity  and  loud  cries  of  the 
church,  warranted  the  expectation  that  the  event  were 
near !  And  when  he  does  descend,  among  the  many 


PREFACE. 


XXXI 


blessed  effects  which  will  accrue  this  doubtless  will  be 
one — that  the  teaching  of  Christ,  concerning  him,  will 
be  hailed  and  studied  as  if  it  were  a  new  revelation  ; 
will  be  traversed  and  explored  like  a  newly-discovered 
continent.  The  reasons  of  Christ  for  amplifying  the 
subject,  and  for  laying  so  much  stress  on  it,  will  then 
be  ielt  in  the  inmost  soul ;  each  of  his  declarations  con¬ 
cerning  it  will  seem  to  expand  into  a  page,  and  be  con¬ 
sulted  as  a  charter  fresh  from  heaven  ;  promises  which 
we  now  repeat  with  freezing  accents  will  then  burn  on 
our  lips,  and  be  pleaded  with  an  earnestness  not  to  be 
denied  ;  but  which  will  open  the  windows  of  heaven 
for  the  emission  of  still  larger  outpourings  of  the  Spirit. 

In  that  section  of  the  Second  Essay,  which  treats  of 
“  The  Originality  of  our  Lord’s  Teaching  concerning 
the  Holy  Spirit,”  I  have  remarked  in  the  introduction, 
that,  “  during  the  long  silence  of  the  Divine  Oracle,  in 
the  space  which  intervened  from  the  last  words  of  Ma- 
lachi  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  we  know  not  comparative¬ 
ly  what  opinions  grew  up  and  prevailed.  It  is  only 
reasoning  on  the  known  principles  of  humanity  to  say, 
that  when  the  living  voice  of  inspiration  had  ceased  to 
speak,  the  sacred  volume  was  much  more  likely  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  undivided  attention  of  the  church  than  before. 
And,  with  a  volume  so  seminal  of  all  truth,  so  con¬ 
stantly  whispering  in  the  ear  of  hope,  as  the  Bible,  who 
can  say  what  approaches  were  made  to  many  evangeli¬ 
cal  doctrines  ?  what  prophets  of  hope  arose  ?  And 
when  once  opinions,  to  which  the  wants  or  aspirations 
of  the  soul  respond,  have  been  broached,  who  can  say 
to  what  consolidation  and  stability  they  may  attain  ? 
By  what  process  then  shall  we  ascertain  how  much 
of  the  gospel  is  an  absolute  origination  :  or  how  much 
is  a  mere  adoption  and  authorization  of  pre-existing 
opinions  ?” 

Having  subsequently  perused  a  translation  of  Tho- 
luck’s  “  Hints  on  the  Importance  of  the  Study  of 
the  Old  Testament,”  I  have  learned  that  it  is  a  fa¬ 
vorite  hypothesis  of  the  neological  school,  that  “  the 
Jewish  religion  coalescing  with  the  Persian  doctrines, 
was  brought  to  perfection,  and  thus  served  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  the  new  order  of  things  which  Christ  in¬ 
troduced.  This  appears  to  us  to  have  been  the  true  or- 


XXX11 


PREFACE. 


igin  of  these  doctrines.  Providence  designed  that  they 
should  be  disseminated,  just  before  the  advent  of  Christ, 
in  order  that  he,  who  was  merely  to  bring  the  new 
Spirit,  and,  by  means  of  this,  to  destroy  the  veil  of  the 
law,  and  to  illustrate  these  doctrines,  need  furnish  no 
system  of  doctrines,  but  merely  announce,  by  his  pre¬ 
cepts  and  his  life,  the  one  great  doctrine  ;  God  hath  so 
loved  the  ivorld.  Those  post-Babylonian  doctrines  were 
illustrated,  however,  by  the  instructions  of  Jesus  and 
the  apostles,  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  appear  in  an 
entirely  new  and  spiritual  light,  as  the  pure  and  disem¬ 
bodied  spirit,  escaped  from  the  lifeless  body  of  the  Rab¬ 
binical  system.” 

Now  the  difference  between  these  two  quotations  is 
so  essential,  that  to  spend  a  moment  in  pointing  it  out, 
may  perhaps  be  considered  superfluous.  But  lest  my 
statement  should  have  the  effect,  in  however  small  a 
degree,  of  preparing  the  mind  of  an  unwary  reader  for 
the  reception  of  the  neology  contained  in  the  quotation 
with  which  it  is  contrasted,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  re¬ 
marking,  that  while  the  tendency  of  the  latter  is  to  de¬ 
tract  from  the  value  both  of  our  Lord’s  teaching  and 
of  the  Old  Testament  doctrines,  by  admitting  the  phi¬ 
losophy  of  paganism  to  share  the  honors  of  divine  reve¬ 
lation,  the  object  of  the  former  is  to  vindicate  to  the 
Old  Testament  the  claim  of  having  suggested  the  vari¬ 
ous  evangelical  phrases  and  opinions,  which  had  obtain¬ 
ed  about  the  time  of  our  Lord’s  appearance,  and  to  as¬ 
sert  for  him  the  honor  of  having  selected  and  authenti¬ 
cated  such  of  those  opinions  as  were  true,  and  of  having 
turned  them  into  inspired  doctrines. 

The  reader  is  probably  aware  that,  during  the  inter¬ 
val  which  elapsed  between  the  cessation  of  the  Old 
Testament  oracle,  and  the  advent  of  Christ,  many  new 
terms  came  into  use  ;  especially  new  epithets  for  desig¬ 
nating  the  expected  Messiah  and  the  Holy  Spirit ; — 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  names,  Logos  and  Paraclete  : 
and,  also,  that  various  theological  opinions  prevailed  ; 
which,  while  tfiey  pleaded  an  Old  Testament  origin, 
were  taught,  if  taught  there  at  all,  only  by  inference 
and  suggestion.  Now  when  a  person  first  becomes 
aware  of  this  fact,  and  discovers  also  that  some  of  these 
terms  and  opinions  were  adopted  by  Christ,  and  incor- 


PREFACE. 


XXX111 


porated  by  him  into  his  New  Testament  record,  he  may 
be  tempted  to  depreciate  in  thought  the  divinity  and 
originality  of  these  particular  parts  of  our  Lord’s 
teaching. 

But  let  him  reflect,  first,  that  as  to  the  divine  origin 
of  these  particular  truths , — the  persons  who  first  an¬ 
nounced  them,  no  doubt,  derived  the  idea  of  them  from 
the  ancient  scriptures,  and  could  have  pointed  to  the 
precise  passage  or  jDassages  which,  in  their  opinion, 
warranted  the  idea.  And,  secondly,  as  to  our  Lord's 
claim,  to  originality  in  teaching  these  particular  truths — 
this  becomes  a  question  of  mere  words.  For  though 
originality  was  no  longer  possible,  in  the  sense  of  nov¬ 
elty,  still  his  ofiice  was  original — he  was  the  first  to  an¬ 
nounce  these  truths  as  divine. 

Suppose,  for  example,  an  inspired  prophet  were  now 
to  appear  in  the  church,  to  add  a  suppliment  to  the  ca¬ 
nonical  books, — what  a  Babel  of  opinions  would  he  find 
existing  on  almost  every  theological  subject  ! — and 
how  highly  probable  is  it  that  his  ministry  would  con¬ 
sist,  or  seem  to  consist,  in  the  mere  selection  and  ratifi¬ 
cation  of  such  of  these  opinions  as  accorded  with  the 
mind  of  God.  Absolute  originality  would  seem  to  be 
almost  impossible.  The  inventive  mind  of  man  has  al¬ 
ready  bodied  forth  speculative  opinions  in  almost  every 
conceivable  form  ;  forestalling  and  robbing  the  future 
of  its  fair  proportion  of  novelties  ;  and  leaving  little 
more,  even  to  a  divine  messenger,  than  the  office  of 
taking  some  of  these  opinions,  and  impressing  them 
with  the  seal  of  heaven.  Imagine  him  to  choose  for 
his  theme — that  vinum  deemonum  of  the  church  in  every 
age — the  subject  of  a  millenium ;  and  may  it  not  be 
confidently  affirmed,  that  whatever  his  doctrine  might 
be,  an  anticipation  of  it,  if  not  the  identical  doctrine  it¬ 
self,  has  appeared  already  among  the  thousand  theories 
which  the  church  has  heard  on  the  subject  ?  Yet 
how  important  the  office  which  would  still  devolve 
on  him,  in  evoking  the  one  truth,  and  dispersing  the 
multiplied  attendant  errors  ;  and  how  worthy  of  a  teach¬ 
er  sent  from  God.  Humanly  speaking,  the  task  of  the 
aged  seer,  in  selecting  from  the  eleven  sons  of  Jesse  the 
future  king  of  Israel,  was  easy,  compared  with  the  task 
of  him  who  has  to  choose  from  a  multitude  of  specula- 


XXX IV 


PREFACE. 


tive  opinions,  all  of  which  are  specious,  and  popular, 
and  possessed  of  an  apparent  likeness,  the  one  heaven- 
born  truth,  and  anoint  it  for  the  Lord. 

Now  such  was  the  relation  in  which  our  Lord  may 
be  said  to  have  stood  to  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Testament.  Originalty,  in  the  sense  of  novelty, 
was,  on  these  particular  subjects,  impossible  :  for  the 
teeming  mind  of  man,  quickened  to  activity  by  some 
hint  of  scripture,  had  already  occupied  the  ground  with 
theories  of  every  grade  of  merit,  and  opinions  adapted 
to  every  taste.  With  these,  hypothetically  speaking, 
the  Saviour  might  be  acquainted,  or  he  might  not.  On 
the  supposition  that  he  did  not  know  them,  the  doctrine 
he  taught  on  either  of  these  subjects,  however  familiar 
it  might  already  have  been  to  human  ears,  was  unbor¬ 
rowed,  original,  and  emphatically  his  own  ;  it  had  no 
other  channel  in  its  descent  from  the  celestial  throne  to 
the  human  heart,  but  his  own  inspired  lips.  On  the 
supposition  that  he  knew  them, — his  office,  at  least,  was 
original,  and  equally  dignified  :  for  still  he  proclaimed 
the  particular  truth,  not  because  man  had  patronized  it, 
but  because  he  knew  it  to  be  the  true  saying  of  God.  And 
more  than  that,  he  redeemed  it  from  the  base  compan¬ 
ionship  of  error,  and  made  it  free  of  the  universe.  He 
not  merely  rescued  it  from  the  gloomy  region  of  doubt, 
but  enabled  it  to  shine  in  its  own  right,  and  to  illumin¬ 
ate  the  surrounding  darkness.  If  he  found  it  one  of 
the  multitude,  he  raised  it  to  the  throne.  If  he  found 
it  a  guess,  he  left  it  a  doctrine — a  living  and  incorporat¬ 
ed  member  of  the  immortal  body  of  truth.  If  he 
found  it  an  outcast,  he  took  it  within  the  pale  and  roy- 
ality  of  truth,  and  surrounded  it  with  the  awful  sanc¬ 
tions  of  the  God  of  truth.  He  proved  himself  to  be 
the  Word  and  the  Wisdom  of  God. 

Had  space  permitted,  it  was  my  intention  to  have  ad¬ 
ded  two  sections  to  this  second  essay  ; — one,  on  the 
Originality  of  our  Lord’s  teaching  on  Faith  ; — and  the 
other,  on  the  Originality  of  his  teaching  on  the  compar¬ 
ative  claims  of  Heaven  and  Earth.  The  former  might 
easily  be  expanded  into  a  volume,  and  could  scarcely 
be  illustrated  in  less.  The  latter  requires  only  a  speci¬ 
men  :  which,  as  the  preface  has  already  become  so  mis¬ 
cellaneous,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  giving. 


PREFACE. 


XXXV 


Much  of  the  preaching  of  Jesus  was  occupied  in  ad¬ 
justing  the  claims  between  heaven  and  earth  ;  so  fre¬ 
quently  did  he  return  to  this  theme,  and  so  conspicu¬ 
ous  a  place  did  he  assign  to  it  in  his  discourses,  that  it 
may  be  said  to  be  one  of  their  distinguishing  features. 
A  prevailing  characteristic  of  man,  as  pourtrayed  in 
scripture,  is  an  inordinate  attachment  to  the  world. 
Sin  having  expelled  from  his  heart  the  love  of  God,  the 
love  of  the  world  has  rushed  into  the  vacuum,  and 
made  it  impossible  for  any  but  omnipotence  to  dislodge 
it.  Having  lost  that  organ  of  spiritual  vision,  which, 
by  keeping  another  world  in  view  in  rivalry  with  this, 
would  have  preserved  the  balance  of  his  affections 
even,  the  present  is  left  to  tyrannize  over  him  with  all 
the  advantage  of  a  power  which  is  ever  visible,  ever  at 
hand,  soliciting  him  and  making  itself  necessary  to  him 
in  a  thousaud  different  ways ;  while  the  only  rival 
which  it  has  to  dread  is  not  only  invisible,  but  incalcu¬ 
lably  remote  :  and  having  thus  sustained  the  loss  of  a 
world,  having  thus  become  reduced  in  spiritual  wealth 
by  the  loss  of  a  whole  order  of  ennobling  objects,  he 
not  only  pours  out  his  affections  on  the  unworthiest 
things  that  offer,  but  he  has  literally  idolized  the  most 
contemptible.  Most  graphically  is  he  represented  in 
the  word  of  God  as  bearing  the  image  of  the  earthy  ; 
his  very  mind  has  become  materialized  :  instead  of  be¬ 
ing  pictured  over  with  celestial  imagery,  it  only  con¬ 
tains  the  portraiture  of  the  world ;  in  all  its  chambers 
of  imagery  are  depictured  and  burnt  in  the  debasing 
abominations  of  earth.  The  mind,  which  with  one 
sweep  of  its  pinions  should  have  readied  the  stars, 
settles  down  in  the  dust;  his  affections,  which  were 
meant  to  rise  and  be  diffused  over  an  infinite  circum¬ 
ference  of  which  God  is  the  center,  let  themselves 
down,  and  labor  to  accommodate  themselves  to  an  indi¬ 
visible  point,  a  fugitive  atom.  As  if  an  anchor  were 
fixed  in  the  center,  his  bosom  is  enchained  to  the  earth. 
The  material  particles  of  which  the  globe  consists,  do 
not  obey  the  law  by  which  thejr  cohere  more  constant¬ 
ly,  than  man  endeavors  to  accommodate  himself  to  the 
world  as  his  center  of  moral  gravity. 

Now  the  Saviour  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  cor¬ 
recting  this  evil.  Entering  the  mart  of  the  busy  world, 


XXXVI 


PREFACE. 


where  nothing  is  heard  but  the  monotonous  hum  of  the 
traders  in  vanity,  he  lifts  up  his  voice  like  the  trump  of 
God,  and  seeks  to  break  the  spell  which  infatuates 
them,  while  he  exclaims,  “  What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? 
or  what  shall  he  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  Were 
all  sublunary  glory  laid  at  your  feet,  let  a  few  years  ex¬ 
pire  and  death  would  force  you  away  from  your  world  ; 
and  then  a  few  years  more,  and  your  world,  and  all  that 
is  in  it,  would  be  burnt  up  ;  but  your  soul,  your  immor¬ 
tal  soul — what  can  compensate  for  the  loss  of  that  ?” 
He  calls  for  that  nobler  world  they  had  lost  from  their 
hemisphere,  and  brings  it  again  within  the  range  of 
their  vision.  He  takes  them  to  the  threshold  of  the  in¬ 
finite,  and  shows  it  flushed  in  one  part  with  living  glo¬ 
ries,  and  in  another  burning  with  the  fiercest  flames  of 
wrath ;  while  he  assures  them  that  in  one  or  the  other 
of  these  states  they  will  shortly  be  fixed  forever. 
“Watch  therefore,”  saith  he,  “for  ye  know  not  when 
the  time  is.” 

Having  thrown  open  to  view  that  interminable  dura¬ 
tion,  and  compelled  them  to  see  that  they  are  actually 
approaching  it,  he  proceeds  to  adjust  its  momentous 
claims  in  harmony  with  the  duties  of  the  life  that  now 
is.  It  might  have  been  apprehended  that  the  vision  of 
eternity,  if  once  beheld,  would  utterly  incapacitate  us 
for  the  affairs  of  time  ;  that  the  infinite  grandeur  of  the 
future,  having  suffered  so  total  an  obscuration  from  the 
littleness  of  the  present,  would  have  taken  revenge  on 
that  littleness,  by  henceforth  engrossing  our  every 
thought.  But  the  Saviour  did  not  come,  as  the  avenging 
champion  of  eternity,  to  annihilate  time  and  its  appro¬ 
priate  interests.  Having  deposed  it  from  its  usurped 
supremacy,  he  takes  it  by  the  hand,  and  assigns  it  its 
place  and  its  duties  as  a  subject.  He  aims  to  impreg¬ 
nate  every  moment  of  life  with  endless  results.  Hav¬ 
ing  wedded  life  of  its  vanities,  he  commands  us  to  cul¬ 
tivate  it  with  all  that  is  useful  and  precious  as  fruit  for 
the  heavenly  garner.  He  would  have  every  moment  of 
life  to  be  so  passed,  as  to  fructify  into  an  age  of  pleas¬ 
ant  recollections. 

That  eternity  might  not  be  an  object  of  mere  barren 
contemplation,  he  has  so  revealed  it  that  its  hallowing 


PREFACE. 


XXXV11 


light  falls  upon  fields  of  activity  and  usefulness  which 
before  were  involved  in  darkness  ;  every  thing  condu¬ 
cive  to  our  real  interest,  in  every  relation  of  life,  re¬ 
ceives  its  countenance,  and  rejoices  in  its  sanction.  If 
he  finds  us  lost  in  indolent  musing  on  the  future,  he 
breaks  up  our  vacant-eyed  reverie  by  the  startling  mo¬ 
nition,  “  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?  Work 
while  it  is  day,  for  the  night  cometh  wherein  no  man 
can  work.”  That  eternity  might  not  overwhelm  us  by 
its  solemnities,  he  has  not  only  softened  its  aspect,  and 
made  it  welcome  as  the  face  of  a  friend,  he  also  en¬ 
gages  our  attention  to  daily  duties  which  hold  us  in  a 
state  of  healthful  activity.  Our  life,  in  his  hands,  is 
converted  into  a  lamp,  which,  like  the  virgins  of  the 
parable,  or  the  priests  of  the  temple,  we  are  to  keep 
bright  and  burning.  Our  various  endowments  are  so 
many  talents,  which  the  Lord  of  all  expects  us  to  mul¬ 
tiply  by  constant  use.  He  calls  us  to  be  the  almoners 
and  agents  of  providence,  to  “  the  poor  who  are  always 
with  us  models  of  correctness  in  all  the  relations  of 
life  ;  and  centres  of  light  and  usefulness  wherever  wo 
move.  It  is  necessary  that  celestial  observations  should 
be  taken  in  order  to  construct  a  terrestrial  chart ;  and 
having  a  chart  to  consult  thus  accurately  formed,  tire 
skilful  mariner  is  prepared  to  navigate  the  wastes  of 
ocean  with  tranquil  confidence.  If  the  view  we  enter¬ 
tain  of  eternity  disqualifies  us  for  the  duties  of  life,  it 
is  not  to  be  traced  to  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  he  meant 
not  that  it  should  haunt  us  as  a  terror,  but  accompany 
us  as  a  guide  :  nor  will  he  accept  the  convulsive  ser¬ 
vice  which  it  may  occasionally  extort  from  us,  by 
alarming  us  into  a  spasm  of  fear.  He  calmly  inquires, 
“  Are  there  not  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  Does  not 
the  day  of  life,  short  as  it  is,  contrasted  with  eternity, 
contain  time  sufficient,  if  properly  employed,  for  all  that 
is  truly  valuable  ?”  And  having  engaged  us  in  his  ser¬ 
vice,  and  pointed  out  our  duty,  he  gives  us  a  glimpse  of 
eternity  to  quicken  the  pulse  of  activity,  and  expects  us 
to  distribute  our  agency  as  equally  as  possible  over  the 
remaining  hours  of  time. 

But  the  liability  of  eternity  to  paralyze  the  active  du¬ 
ties  of  time  is  not  to  be  named,  as  a  danger,  compared 
with  the  fatal  and  universal  propensity  of  men  to  subor- 
4 


XXXV111 


PREFACE. 


dinate  the  claims  of  the  future  to  the  affairs  of  the  pres¬ 
ent.  While  their  enlightened  judgment  compels  them 
to  concede  the  point  of  superiority  to  heaven,  their  de¬ 
praved  heart  is  for  giving  the  practical  precedence  to 
earth  ;  and  the  result  of  this  variance  is  an  attempted 
compromise  between  the  two  claimants.  But  against 
such  an  accommodation,  the  Redeemer  enters  his  pro¬ 
test  ;  appealing  to  the  tribunal  of  common  sense,  he  ex¬ 
claims,  “  No  man  can  serve  two  masters,  whose  inter¬ 
ests  clash.”  The  experiment  has  been  made  and  re¬ 
peated  in  every  form,  and  in  every  age  ;  and  he  solemn¬ 
ly  avers,  with  the  confidence  of  one  who  knows  that  it 
has  failed  as  often  as  it  has  been  made,  and  will  prove 
eternally  impracticable,  “Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
mammon.”  Passing  into  the  sanctuary,  and  marking 
the  worldliness  of  the  assembled  hearers,  he  shows  how 
necessarily,  in  such  soil,  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  must 
prove  unfruitful.  Visiting  the  place  of  gain,'  and  con¬ 
trasting  the  burden  of  thick  clay  which  the  worshiper 
of  mammon  carries,  with  the  narrowness  of  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  way  of  life,  he  exclaims,  in  accents  of 
deep  commiseration,  “  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !”  Penetrat¬ 
ing  into  the  inmost  circle  of  domestic  life,  and  arrest¬ 
ing  the  inmates  in  the  midst  of  their  household  cares, 
he  calls  them  to  his  side,  and  turns  on  them  a  look  of 
pity  as  he  reminds  them,  that  while  they  are  careful 
and  cumbered  about  many  things,  “  one  thing  is  need¬ 
ful.”  He  etnn  lifts  the  curtain  of  eternity,  and  bids  us 
approach  and  listen,  while  the  voice  of  Dives  from  the 
deeps  of  hell,  and  the  replies  of  Abraham  from  the 
realms  of  light,  pronounce  the  moral  of  the  tale  of  life. 
And  taking  his  stand  on  the  highway  of  the  world,  and 
surveying  the  busy  crowds  as  they  pass  and  repass, 
each  one  as  eager  as  if  he  had  just  discovered  the  se¬ 
cret  of  happiness  after  a  thousand  failures,  and  were 
about  to  give  it  an  instant  trial,  he  points  them  up¬ 
wards,  and  reminds  them  that  the  good  they  seek  is 
there  ;  that  there  is  one  thing  to  which  every  thing  else 
desirable  is  appended ;  and  that  he  exhorts  them  to 
“  seek  first.” 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  some  to  he  afflicted  with  that 
kind  of  defective  sight,  which  prevents  them  from  see- 


PREFACE. 


XXXIX 


ing  to  an  ordinary  distance  ;  they  are  unable  to  distin¬ 
guish  the  most  towering  and  colossal  object  if  placed  at 
a  short  remove,  while  the  merest  atom  brought  close  to 
the  eye  is  magnified  as  with  the  power  of  a  microscope. 
An  affliction  analogous  to  this  in  the  moral  sight,  but 
pregnant  with  incomparably  greater  danger,  is  the  uni¬ 
versal  malady  of  mankind;  and  our  Lord  insists  on  the 
urgency  of  its  removal.  He  finds  them  mistaking 
phantoms  for  realities,  and  realities  for  phantom  ;  call¬ 
ing  an  atom  a  world,  and  a  world  an  atom  ;  practising 
on  themselves  an  endless  succession  of  delusions  ;  and 
he  gives  them  the  alternative  of  a  remedy  or  death. 
He  finds  them  absorbed  in  providing  for  the  temporal 
future,  and  he  urges  them,  as  they  respect  their  own 
rationality,  not  to  omit  eternity  from  their  reckoning. 
He  approaches  them  while  gazing  on  the  near  perspec¬ 
tive  of  time,  and,  by  raising  and  extending  the  point  of 
sight,  he  adds  eternity  to  the  view,  and  leaves  them 
lost  in  the  contemplation  of  a  boundless  futurity.  In 
all  his  addresses  on  the  future,  he  does  not  forget  that 
we  are  mortal ;  but  neither  will  he  allow  us  in  our  at¬ 
tentions  to  the  present  to  forget  that  we  are  immortal. 
As  the  worshipers  of  mammon  make  religion  subser¬ 
vient  to  the  world,  so  he  requires  the  worshipers  of 
God  to  subordinate  the  world  to  religion.  Instead  of 
exhausting  ourselves  in  efforts  after  the  bread  which 
perisheth,  he  reminds  us  that  there  is  angel’s  food,  and 
urges  us  to  put  forth  our  chief  endeavors  after  that. 
He  finds  us  as  in  the  midst  of  a  spacious  repository, 
crowded  with  an  infinite  variety  of  objects  ;  some  of 
which  are  adapted  to  the  body  only,  while  others  might 
form  a  rich  dowry  for  an  immortal  soul ;  some  of  them 
things  that  perish  in  the  using,  and  others  of  them 
things  that  form  the  gold  and  currency  of  heaven, 
things  on  which  God  has  stamped  his  image  and  super¬ 
scription,  and  inscribed  an  infinite  value.  But  howev¬ 
er  diversified  their  character,  he  finds  them  each  solicit¬ 
ing  the  first  and  highest  place  in  our  esteem ;  and 
aware  that  we  are  in  danger  of  lavishing  our  affections 
— those  precious  things  which  if  given  to  God  would 
brin<r  us  heaven  in  return — of  wasting  them  on  less 
than  nothing  and  vanity,  he  draws  near  and  expostulates, 
and  entreats  us  that  we  cheat  not  our  souls  of  eternal 


xl 


TREFACE. 


happiness  by  providing  for  them  only  an  earthly  por¬ 
tion,  but  that  we  select  for  them  a  good  spiritual  and 
immortal  like  themselves,  suited  to  supply  its  impor¬ 
tant  wants,  and  to  gratify  all  their  large  capacities. 
“Lay  not  up  treasures  on  earth,”  saitli  he,  “where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  were  thieves  break 
through  and  steal :  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
in  heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt, 
and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  and  steal.” 

And  by  exhorting  us  to  establish  our  principal  inter¬ 
est  in  heaven,  he  actually  consults  our  peace  on  earth  ; 
“  For  where  your  treasure  is,”  he  adds,  “  there  will 
your  heart  be  also.”  By  choosing  a  heavenly  treasure, 
our  character  and  hopes,  which  are  invariably  modified 
by  the  object  of  our  paramount  regard,  will  partake  of 
its  celestial  attributes  ;  for  it  is  both  ennobling  in  itself, 
and  lodged  in  the  only  part  of  the  universe  which  is 
exempt  from  calamity  and  change;  so  that,  while  others 
partake  of  the  littleness,  agitation,  and  debasement, 
which  belong  to  their  earthly  gods,  we  shall  receive,  by 
an  anticipation,  an  impress  of  the  greatness,  and  secu¬ 
rity,  and  stability  of  heaven  ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
our  temporal  mercies  will  be  enjoyed  with  a  superior 
relish,  since  we  should  feel  that  the  loss  of  them  would 
leave  us  still  in  the  possession  of  our  real  treasure  en¬ 
tire  and  secure.  In  the  prospect  of  a  national  convul¬ 
sion,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  wealthy  to  transmit 
their  property  for  security  into  other  lands.  And,  O, 
were  there  a  country  on  earth  perfectly  exempt  from  all 
the  changes  which  endanger  property,  that  would  be 
the  envied  land  in  which  all  would  aim  to  invest  their 
riches.  But  that  blessed  region,  not  to  be  found  on  the 
face  of  the  wide  earth,  actually  exists  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Yes,  by  throwing  open  to  us  the  gates  of  a 
heavenly  commerce,  he  would  give  scope  to  our  loftiest 
aims,  security  to  our  choicest  treasures,  and  objects  to 
our  most  capacious  desires.  Here,  the  affluent  may 
embark  their  abundance  : — instead  of  living  for  them¬ 
selves  let  them  live  for  God,  and  they  will  be  remitting 
their  property  to  a  world  where  it  shall  accumulate 
witli  abundant  interest ;  they  will  be  laying  up  a  store 
for  the  future,  on  which  they  may  live  splendidly  and 
gloriously  for  ever ;  they  will  be  placing  uncertain 


PREFACE. 


xli 


riches  in  a  safe  repository,  and  transmuting  them  into 
certain  wealth.  Let  them  acquit  themselves  as  faithful 
stewards  of  the  great  householder ;  and  as  they  dis¬ 
pense  their  wealth,  it  will  direct  its  flight  towards 
heaven,  bearing  on  its  wings  the  prayers  and  benedic¬ 
tions  of  those  they  have  benefitted.  Having  made  to 
themselves  friends  with  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness 
when  they  die,  those  friends  will  welcome  them  into 
everlasting  habitations.  Here  the  humblest  believer 
may  employ  his  penury : — and  he  will  find  eventually 
that  his  single  mite,  his  cup  of  cold  water,  or  his  one 
talent,  consecrated  to  God,  lias  augmented  into  a  treas¬ 
ure  exceeding  his  powers  of  computation.  For  every 
sacrifice  we  make  in  his  service  lie  guarantees  to  re¬ 
quite  us, — not  indeed  as  of  debt ;  this  the  magnitude  of 
the  requital  shows  ;  but  of  his  own  exuberant  munifi¬ 
cence,  he  promises  to  repay  us  a  hundred-fold  in  the 
present  life,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting. 
Every  struggle  against  sin,  every  effort  in  the  cause  of 
benevolence,  every  holy  principle  exerted  for  God,  he 
pronounces  an  element  of  future  blessedness,  and  con¬ 
stitutes  a  claimant  on  his  grace  at  the  recompense  of 
the  just.  Whatever  is  transmitted  by  the  soul  to  the 
world  above,  is  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  om¬ 
nipotence,  is  laid  up  securely  by  the  throne  of  God. 
His  seat  is  the  centre  of  a  circumference,  within  which 
nothing  that  impairs  or  destroys,  can  by  any  possibility 
intrude  ;  and  which  itself  remains  unmoved  and  immuta¬ 
ble  while  all  besides  is  fluctuation  and  change. 

It  is  not  easy  to  speak  of  the  claims  of  heaven  and 
earth  as  needing  adjustment,  without  seeming  to  coun¬ 
tenance  an  erroneous  impression  that  they  are  natural¬ 
ly  at  variance.  But  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  original¬ 
ly  they  were  one.  The  only  quarrel  which  eternity  can 
have  with  time,  is,  when  it  usurps  an  ascendancy  which, 
by  inverting  all  order,  and  doing  violence  to  the  first 
principles  of  our  nature,  renders  the  happiness  of  the 
soul  impossible.  Let  the  present  defer  to  the  future, 
let  it  fall  into  its  proper  place  as  the  handmaid  of  im¬ 
mortality,  and  instantly  they  are  one  again  ;  each  is 
seen  reciprocating  its  influence,  and  lending  its  aid  to 
the  other,  to  secure  to  us  a  blessed  futurity  and  to  pre¬ 
pare  us  for  it.  But  though  all  hostile  opposition  termi- 
4* 


xlii 


PREFACE. 


nates  with  this  new  adjustment,  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  difficulty  still  remains, — the  natural  and  unavoida¬ 
ble  difficulty  of  keeping  the  world  from  that  dangerous 
domination  which,  having  once  enjoyed,  it  is  ever  impa¬ 
tient  to  regain.  New  habits  are  to  be  formed,  powerful 
propensities  are  to  be  held  at  bay,  old  and  indulged 
inclinations  are  to  be  denied,  and  enemies  which 
we  fondly  thought  we  had  laid  dead  at  our  feet,  sudden¬ 
ly  starting  into  hostility  again,  are  again  to  be  coped 
with  and  vanquished  ;  this  is  attended  with  a  disheart¬ 
ening  sense  of  difficulty  which  some  have  no  sooner 
tasted,  than  they  have  declined  the  contest,  and  surren¬ 
dered  themselves  at  discretion. 

Now,  while  our  Lord,  in  various  ways,  takes  cogniz¬ 
ance  of  this  struggle — for  one  of  his  great  excellences, 
as  the  founder  of  a  new  religion,  was  the  most  transpa¬ 
rent  simplicity  and  candor — while  he  even  enlarges  on 
the  conflict,  presents  his  followers  with  a  plan  of  the 
battle,  points  out  its  imminent  hazards,  and  exhorts 
them  before  entering  on  it,  to  “  count  the  cost,”  he,  at 
the  same  time  assures  them  of  such  supernatural  succors 
as  shall  enable  their  weakness  to  do  the  deeds  of  omnip¬ 
otence,  and  make  perseverance  infallible  success. 
While  he  takes  them  to  an  eminence,  and  shows  them 
the  vast  confederacy  of  evil  arrayed  against  them,  he 
reminds  them  that  they  struggle  for  an  invisible  world, 
that  they  fight  in  fellowship  with  all  the  children  of  the 
light,  that  more  than  angels  are  in  their  ranks,  for  he 
promises  them  the  abundant  aid  of  the  Eternal  Spirit. 
Their  infirmities  may  be  numerous,  their  sins  may  be 
mighty,  their  ignorance  may  seem  invincible,  but  an 
almighty  agent  is  employed  for  the  special  purpose  of 
piercing  that  ignorance,  overpowering  that  sinfulness, 
and  surrounding  them  with  an  element  of  light  and 
holiness. 

And  even  beyond  this,  as  he  leads  them  to  the  field 
he  proclaims,  “  Be  of  good  cheer ,  I  have  overcome  the 
world;  your  leader  is  a  conqueror,  advance  to  vic¬ 
tory.”  The  history  of  the  first  Christians  proves  that 
he  did  not  utter  this  inspiring  address  in  vain.  By  this 
sign  they  conquered.  Though  the  world  within  and 
the  world  without  were  in  arms  against  them,  they  could 
not  be  depressed.  They  fought  in  the  presence  of  an 


PREFACE. 


xliii 


invisible  world.  They  surveyed  the  whole  array  of  evil, 
looked  calmly  in  the  face  of  every  foe,  considered  all  that 
might  happen,  but  to  this  triumphant  conclusion  they 
came,  “  because  he  lives,  we  shall  live  also.”  Like  the 
earth  on  which  they  trod,  and  which  continues  to  roll 
on  in  its  orbit  unimpeded  by  the  earthquakes  which  rend 
it,  and  carry  all  its  atmosphere  of  storms  along  with  it,  so 
they,  animated  and  impelled  by  the  love  of  Christ,  ad¬ 
vanced  in  the  course  lie  assigned  them,  as  steadily  and 
cheerfully  as  if  no  ills  within,  no  storms  without,  assail¬ 
ed  them  ;  as  if  each  step  they  took  were  across  the 
heavenly  threshold,  and  in  sight  of  their  appointed 
thrones. 

Without  intending  or  hoping  to  supply  the  defects  of 
the  concluding  Essay — On  the  Practicalness  of  our 
Lord’s  Teaching — it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  close 
this  prefatory  miscellany  with  a  few  practical  remarks. 
A  variety  of  circumstances  seem  to  concur,  in  the  pres¬ 
ent  day,  auspicious  to  the  study  of  the  gospel  as  a  prac¬ 
tical  science.  Two  or  three  of  these  circumstances 
may  be  named. 

1.  The  great  error  of  religious  polemics,  hitherto  has 
consisted  in  arguing  from  compound  dependent  truths, 
as  if  they  were  ultimate.  The  application  of  the  in¬ 
ductive  method  of  investigation,  however,  has  taught 
us  that,  as  in  philosophy  so  in  theology,  we  as  yet  pos¬ 
sess  but  few  ultimate  truths ; — that  principles  on  which 
parties  have  been  accustomed  to  rely  with  the  greatest 
confidence,  may  be  easily  carried  to  a  point  where  they 
break  down,  and  fail  us ; — that  where  two  truths  appear 
thus  to  clash,  it  is  evident  they  cannot  be  ultimate  ; — 
but  that  each  of  them  having  been  affirmed  by  the  God 
of  truth  concerning  the  same  thing,  there  is  no  doubt 
whatever  of  their  eventual  coincidence  in  one  compre¬ 
hensive  and  axiomatic  truth.  In  the  mean  time,  we  feel 
that  we  must  wait  patiently,  pronounce  less  confidently, 
inquire  more  diffidently,  look  at  each  other  more  chari¬ 
tably,  and,  leaving  the  polemics  of  piety  in  which  we 
differ,  unite  in  the  practice  of  piety  in  which  we  agree. 

2.  Religion  has  been  regarded  as  the  great  monopolist 
of  mystery  ;  the  popular  ignorance  of  the  wonders  of 
natural  philosophy  has  favoured  this  error ;  and  the 
consequence  has  too  commonly  been  that  the  neophyte 


xliv 


PREFACE. 


lias  brought  to  religion  a  speculative  spirit,  and  lias  spent 
that  breath  in  disputing  which  might  otherwise  have 
been  spent  in  the  race  of  holiness.  It  is  a  subject  of 
congratulation,  however,  that  as  natural  science  advan¬ 
ces,  he  is  throwing  a  light  on  many  of  the  dark  things 
of  scripture,  and,  at  the  same  time,  multiplying  her  own 
incredibilia  ;  so  that  wonder  and  scepticism  will  have  to 
transport  their  throne  from  the  region  of  religion  into 
the  province  of  science.  And  thus  much  of  the  strength 
which  would  once  have  been  wasted  in  speculation  and 
controversy,  is  now  more  usefully  employed  in  biblical 
criticism,  and  the  enforcement  of  piety,  in  acts  of  obe¬ 
dience  to  God,  and  in  deeds  of  benevolence  to  man. 

3.  The  present  day  is  pre-eminently  distinguished,  in 
every  department,  social,  national  and  universal ;  civil, 
political,  and  philosophical,  by  practical,  activity.  Re¬ 
ligion,  also,  is  up  and  doing.  In  every  thing  proper  to 
her  peculiar  province,  she  leads  the  van.  Once  more 
she  appears  before  the  world  in  her  appropriate  charac¬ 
ter,  militent  and  agressive.  Hushing  their  mutual  feuds, 
she  is  leading  her  followers  forth  to  the  conquest  of  a 
world  To  fall  into  her  train,  is  to  swear  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  Christ. 

4.  Another  characteristic  of  the  present  day,  wheth¬ 
er  for  good  or  for  evil  we  stay  not  to  inquire,  is  its  cui 
bono ,  or  utilitarian  spirit.  By  this  test,  religion  glories 
to  be  examined.  Godliness  is  profitable  for  all  things. 
It  can  call  witnesses  from  all  classes  of  the  community  ; 
bring  evidence  from  all  parts  of  the  earth  ;  and  constrain 
even  its  enemies  to  speak  well  of  it. 

It  is  the  boast  of  philosophy,  that  any  accession  to 
our  knowledge  of  nature  is  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to 
make  itself  felt  in  some  practical  application  and  bene¬ 
fit.  Every  aditional  truth  which  the  gospel  has  brought, 
is  an  aditional  principle  of  holiness,  a  fresh  element  of 
virtue  ;  it  is,  in  effect,  the  addition  of  a  new  mechanical 
power  for  accelerating  the  motion  of  the  world  towards 
God.  It  is  the  pride  of  physical  science,  that  it  can 
lead  the  very  elements  captive,  subduing  the  most 
powerful  energies  of  nature  to  its  purposes,  and  employ¬ 
ing  them  in  a  variety  of  useful  ways.  Spiritual  tri¬ 
umphs,  analogous  to  this,  are  familiar  to  the  gospel. 
It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 


PREFACE. 


xlv 


believeth.  It  gathers  grapes  from  thorns,  and  figs  from 
thistles.  It  turns  the  wrath  of  man  into  a  soim  of 
praise  worthy  of  the  harps  of  heaven.  It  takes  the 
passions,  the  most  intractable  and  unapproachable  hu¬ 
man  passions,  yokes  them  to  the  car  of  duty,  and  hence¬ 
forth  they  run  in  the  way  of  obedience,  proud  to  grace 
its  triumphs.  From  elements  of  vice  and  wretchedness 
the  gospel  forms  a  neio  creature ,  instinct  with  God. 
These  arc  its  ordinary  effects ;  but  not  only  does  it  re¬ 
tain  all  its  original  applicability  and  power  unimpaired, 
it  only  waits  occasion  to  develope  energies  of  unimag¬ 
ined  value,  and  to  fill  the  world  with  wonder  of  grace. 

Do  we  admire  its  practical  utility  and  power  ?  Then 
the  Saviour  turns  on  us  a  look  of  personal  application, 
while  he  repeats,  “  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of 
mine,  and  doctli  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise 
man.”  “  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them.”  His  sublimest  doctrines  were  all  practical. 
He  would  not  have  revealed  any  one  doctrine  con¬ 
tained  in  his  word  but  for  its  moral  effect.  He 
measured  beforehand  the  power  of  each  to  sanc¬ 
tify,  and  according  to  its  tendency  to  illustrate  the 
holiness  of  his  divine  nature,  and  to  restore  sanctity  to 
our  human,  he  assigned  it  an  appropriate  place  in  the 
system  of  truth.  The  moral  of  each  separately,  and  of  all 
combined,  is  simply  this,  “  Sin  no  more.”  Reader,  such 
are  the  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  seal ;  what  is  its 
impression  on  your  heart  and  life  ?  The  character  of 
the  Christian  should  be  monumental,  commemorative  of 
the  great  facts  and  truths  of  the  gospel ;  how  many  of 
these  facts  and  truths  could  be  learnt  from  your  charac¬ 
ter  or  transcribed  from  your  life  ?  “  If  y$  love  me  keep 

my  commandments.” 

Epsom,  May,  1835. 


' 

. 


. 


- 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER. 


ESSAY  I. 

ON  THE  AUTHORITY  OE  OUR  LORD’S  TEACHING, 

He  spslie  as  one  having  authority.” 

When,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  the  eternal  Son 
came  forth  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  de¬ 
scended  to  a  region  of  spiritual  darkness.  Ages  of 
inquiry,  conjecture,  and  effort,  had  only  served  to 
demonstrate  the  fact — that  man,  “  by  searching,  can¬ 
not  find  out  God.”  Legislators,  philosophers,  and 
poets — the  pride  of  their  time,  anil  the  boast  of  their 
species — had  toiled  to  construct  a  system  whose  top 
should  reach  unto  heaven  ;  but  in  vain  ;  they  built 
only  to  the  clouds.  Reason,  confident  in  her  resour¬ 
ces,  had  sent  forth  her  sons  under  all  auspices,  and 
in  every  direction  :  but  they  returned,  defeated  and 
disheartened  ;  the  footsteps  of  truth  could  nowhere 
be  found.  In  vain  had  generation  after  generation 
asked,  in  its  way  to  oblivion,  “  What  is  truth  ?”  The 
devotee  had  urged  the  inquiry  at  the  shrine  of  his 
god;  the  priest,  at  his  altar  of  sacrifice  ;  the  sage  had 
repeated  it  as  he  walked  amidst  the  works  and  won¬ 
ders  of  creation  ;  but  nothing  tvas  heard  in  reply ; 
nothing,  but  the  faint  and  bewildering  echo,  “  What 
is  truth  ?”  Darkness  covered  the  earth,  and  gross 
darkness  the  minds  of  the  people. 

Nor  can  the  state  of  Judea  be  regarded  as  an  ex¬ 
ception  to  the  prevailing  gloom.  There,  indeed,  the 
ancient  oracles  of  God  were  yet  extant ;  but  their 
still  small  voice,  heard  only,  at  any  time,  by  the  at¬ 
tentive  listener,  had  been  long  since  overpowered 
and  silenced  by  the  dogmas  of  their  professed  inter- 


48  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

preters,  and  the  clamors  of  rival  sects.  The  spiritual 
import  of  the  sacred  volume,  like  the  seven-sealed 
roll  of  the  Apocalypse,  had  long  been  closed  to  the 
Jew;  and  when  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  pre¬ 
vailed  to  open  it,  the  aversion  with  which  they  turned 
from  the  sight,  showed  how  unaccustomed  they  were 
to  gaze  on  the  truth.  The  darkness  was  universal 
and  complete.  It  had  settled  down,  like  a  pall,  over 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  Truth  looked  down 
from  heaven  ;  but  from  no  part  could  she  behold  her 
image  reflected.  If  she  would  relieve  the  gloom,  she 
must  descend,  and  shine,  and  dissipate  it  with  her 
actual  presence.  All  things  proclaimed  the  urgent 
necessity  that  the  world  should  be  visited  by  “  a  teach¬ 
er  sent  from  God.” 

Not  only  did  this  awful  exigence  exist,  it  was  exten¬ 
sively  felt  and  acknowledged  ;  and,  by  many  of  the 
more  enlightened  heathens,  a  Divine  instructor  was 
ardently  desired.  In  illustration  of  this,  the  language 
of  Plato  has  often  been  cited ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  con¬ 
ceive  of  any  thing  more  conclusive  and  striking  than 
his  picture  of  Socrates  advising  his  pupil  to  forego 
the  usual  sacrifices  until  a  teacher  should  be  sent 
from  on  high.  In  another  place,  speaking  of  such 
an  inspired  teacher,  he  represents,  with  prophetic  sa¬ 
gacity  and  precision,  that  “  he  must  be  poor,  and  void 
of  all  qualifications  but  those  of  virtue  alone;  that 
a  wicked  world  would  not  bear  his  instructions  and 
reproofs  ;  and  therefore,  within  three  or  four  years 
after  he  began  to  preach,  he  would  be  persecuted, 
imprisoned,  scourged,  and  at  last  be  put  to  death.” 
In  this  remarkable  passage,  we  behold  the  divine 
philosopher,  rising  from  a  mournful  survey  of  human 
ignorance,  turning  with  an  air  of  despondency  from 
every  earthly  resource,  yet  eagerly  thirsting  for  a 
knowledge  of  God,  and  virtue,  and  futurity,  till  his 
thirst  grows  into  a  desire  for  celestial  aid,  and  his  de¬ 
sire  matures  to  an  anticipation,  and  even  a  prediction, 
which  God  was  actually  intending  to  fulfil ;  perhaps, 
indeed,  we  err  in  not  cordially  recognizing  in  his 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


49 


language  the  presence  of  heavenly  inspiration.  And 
in  uttering  the  desire  which  his  words  disclose,  we 
muy  take  it  for  granted,  he  was  clothing  the  thoughts 
of  a  thousand  bosoms,  venting  the  secret  and  cher¬ 
ished  longings  of  unnumbered  hearts.  If  we,  though 
standing  in  the  radiance  of  the  “  Sun,”  which  has 
since  risen  on  the  world,  are  yet  sometimes  conscious 
of  impatience,  complain  of  obscurity,  what  must 
have  been  the  wishes  and  aspirations  of  those  who, 
with  a  keen  preception  for  their  exigence,  were  sit¬ 
ting  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  ? 

Now  the  appearance  of  a  Divine  Instructor,  thus 
absolutely  necessary,  and  ardently  desired,  might 
have  been  warrantably  expected.  Indubitable  evi¬ 
dence  existed  that  God  already  had  spoken  to  man,  at 
sundry  times,  and  in  divers  manners ;  and  as  the  igno¬ 
rance  of  the  world  was  still  unreclaimed,  and  there 
was  no  intimation  that  his  voice  had  been  final,  there 
was  ground  to  anticipate  that,  in  his  own  time,  lie 
would  break  the  silence  again.  Besides,  the  very 
presence  and  nature  of  the  Jewish  economy  was  a 
Standing  evidence  that  such  was  his  gracious  inten¬ 
tion.  Bearing  the  marks  of  a  celestial  origin,  and 
fraught  with  important  truth,  it  yet  veiled  its  mean¬ 
ing  in  types  and  enigmas,  the  solution  of  which  re¬ 
mained  to  be  given.  Here  were  mysteries — where 
was  the  interpreter  ?  Here  were  shadows — the  sub¬ 
stance,  “  the  very  things  themselves,”  must  be  at 
band.  Here  were  proofs  that,  in  a  former  age,  God 
had  said,  “  Let  there  be  spiritual  light”— was  it  not 
likely,  that,  in  the  process  of  his  new  creation,  the 
time  would  come  when  he  wonld  collect,  and  embody, 
and  augment  this  light  into  a  glorious  sun?  Here 
was  a  system  of  divine  intimations,  an  unfinished 
economy — was  it  likely  that  he  would  leave  it  incom¬ 
plete  ?  was  it  not  more  accordant  with  the  character  of 
a  perfect  being,  that,  putting  his  hand  a  second  time  to 
the  work,  he  would  bring  it  to  perfection  ? 

But,  beyond  this,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  had  distinct¬ 
ly  foretold  that  an  inspired  instructor  should  appear. 


50 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


“For  Moses  truly  said  unto  the  fathers,  A  prophet 
shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your 
brethren,  like  unto  me ;  him  shall  ye  hear  in  all 
things  whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto  you.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  soul,  which  will  not 
hear  that  prophet,  shall  be  destroyed  from  among  the 
people.  Yea,  and  all  the  prophets  from  Samuel,  and 
those  that  iollow  after,  as  many  as  have  spoken,  have 
likewise  foretold  of  these  days.”  Thus  a  prediction 
was  to  be  found,  at  the  very  opening  of  the  prophet¬ 
ic  roll,  announcing  the  advent  of  a  distinguished 
teacher,  whose  words  would  demand  universal  re¬ 
gard;  while  his  authority  would  be  supreme,  and 
his  power  invincible.  Unfolding  it  farther,  we  read, 
that  he  should  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  and 
proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord ;  that  he 
should  set  judgment  in  the  earth,  and  the  isles  should 
wait  for  his  law;  that  the  Gentiles  should  come  to 
his  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  his  rising. 
And  as  he  was  its  earliest,  so  he  was  also  its  latest 
theme.  For,  reading  on  to  its  closing  lines,  we  find 
it  predict  him  as  the  Messenger  of  the  covenant  who 
was  yet  to  come;  and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  yet 
to  arise.  His  name  was  the  first  which  prophecy  had 
uttered  ;  as  often  as  it  spoke,  it  resumed  the  inspiring 
theme ;  and  when  at  length  it  expired,  his  name 
lingered  on  its  lips.  “  When  the  fullness  of  time  was 
come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son?  “Hear,  O  heavens; 
and  be  astonished,  O  earth  !”  the  appointed  Instructor 
appears,  and  proves  to  be  no  less  a  being  than  the  Son 
of  God  himself.  It  is  true,  the  deep  necessities  of 
man,  the  riches  of  divine  benevolence,  and  the  glow¬ 
ing  colors  of  prophecy,  might  have  kindled  and  justi¬ 
fied  the  expectation  of  a  most  illustrious  teacher ;  but 
that  he  should  have  appeared  in  the  person  of  the 
Eternal  Word,  exceeds  the  highest  flight  of  human 
hope ;  that  he  should  have  come  from  the  bosom  of 
the  Father,  was  an  excess  of  goodness,  one  of  those 
splendid  surprises  of  grace,  by  which  mercy  de¬ 
lights  to  melt  the  obduracy,  and  to  win  the  confi¬ 
dence  of  our  guilty  race. 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


51 


The  circumstances  attending  the  advent  of  so  illus¬ 
trious  a  Prophet,  must  be  entitled  to  receive  our  pro¬ 
found  attention.  With  the  outlines  of  these  we  are  all 
familiar.  The  condescending  object  of  his  mission 
required  that,  for  a  time,  he  should  hold  the  essen¬ 
tial  glories  of  nature  in  abeyance :  accordingly,  he 
mysteriously  allied  himself  to  our  condition;  “the 
Word  was  made  flesh.”  The  strain  of  prophecy  had 
assigned  the  scene  of  his  life  and  labors  to  Judea; 
and  in  that  favored  land  he  appeared.  That  he  should 
have  grown  in  wisdom  as  he  rose  to  maturity,  was 
only  according  to  a  law  of  our  nature — an  ordinance 
of  his  own  divine  appointment — since  it  is  only  by  a 
gradual  development  that  the  faculties  of  man  ar¬ 
rive  at  perfection  ;  but  the  office  he  had  come  to  as¬ 
sume,  and  the  divine  qualifications  he  brought  to  it, 
supposed  him  superior  to  human  tuition ;  and  accor¬ 
dingly  he  sought  it  not.  When,  in  childhood,  he 
mingled  a  moment  with  the  doctors  of  the  temple, 
“  they  were  astonished  at  his  understanding ;”  his  in¬ 
quiries  were  more  instructive  and  replete  with  wis¬ 
dom  than  their  replies.  On  an  after  occasion,  their  sur¬ 
prise  at  his  stores  of  sacred  science  was  augmented 
by  their  knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  he  had  “  never 
learned,”  never  approached  the  schools  of  human  in¬ 
struction.  He  had  access  to  a  tree  of  knowledge 
they  knew  not  of.  As  his  dignity  was  of  an  order 
distinct  from  earthly  pomp,  incapable  of  being  di¬ 
minished  by  its  absence,  or  being  embellished  by  its 
presence,  he  entirely  dispensed  with  it.  The  vari¬ 
ous  gradations  of  human  condition  were  all  open 
and  free  to  his  choice,  but  of  these  he  selected  the 
lowliest ;  and  however  astonishing  the  selection  may 
appear  to  those  who  place  distinction  in  opulence 
and  rank,  to  him  who  had  already  stooped  from  an 
infinite  height  in  becoming  man,  the  varieties  of 
earthly  rank  were  as  nothing,  were  only  minute  de¬ 
grees  of  littleness.  The  place  of  his  birth,  like  a 
place  constructed  from  the  very  wrecks  of  poverty, 
was  entirely  swept  of  every  trace  of  luxury,  every 


52  TIIE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

vestige  of  indulgence,  and  seemed  sacred  to  humili¬ 
ty  alone.  And  the  lowliness  of  all  his  subsequent 
life  strictly  accorded  with  the  humbleness  of  his 
birth.  Had  he  come  in  the  pomp  of  outward  state, 
the  multitude  would  have  been  debarred  from  his 
presence,  and  the  regards  of  men  would  have  been 
divided  between  the  attractions  of  his  earthly  rank, 
and  the  claims  of  celestial  truth  ;  but  by  choosing  the 
low  condition  of  the  great  majority,  and  declining 
the  tinselled  drapery  which  charms  the  eye,  he  gra¬ 
ciously  made  himself  accessible  to  all,  while  he  seem¬ 
ed  to  put  forward  truth  alone  as  the  only  object  de¬ 
manding  their  notice — to  challenge  their  ivhole  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  native  worth,  the  intrinsic  importance  of 
the  doctrines  he  announced. 

But  though,  for  the  reasons  assigned,  he  assumed 
the  most  bare  and  unpretending  simplicity,  as  the 
hour  for  opening  his  divine  commission  drew  nigh, 
the  public  mind  was  apprized  of  the  event  by  “Won¬ 
ders  in  heaven  above,  and  signs  in  the  earth  beneath.” 
A  herald,  preceding  his  steps,  aroused  the  nation,  by 
the  solemn  announcement  that  he  was  now  at  hand  ; 
a  herald,  whose  office  was  deemed  so  important  as 
the  precursor  of  Christ,  that  even  he  had  been  the 
subject  of  ancient  prediction ;  while,  to  prepare  the 
minds,  and  to  excite  the  expectations  of  those  he  ad¬ 
dressed,  the  burden  of  his  message  was  nothing  less 
than  the  stern  necessity  of  immediate  repentance, 
and  the  approaching  erection  of  a  heavenly  kingdom : 
“  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.” 
The  voice  came  pealing  from  the  Judean  desert,  peo¬ 
pling  its  path  wherever  it  swept  with  echoes  of 
astonishment  and  alarm ;  and  as  it  passed  over  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan,  rung  through  the  palaces  and 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  startled  even  the  distant 
shores  ;  the  wondering  land  went  out  in  crowds,  the 
sanguine,  the  envious,  the  devout,  the  anxious,  the 
oppressed,  the  curious— priest,  politician,  populace — 
all  flocked  and  thronged  to  the  scene  of  this  remark- 
able  prodigy;  where,  having  won  their  admiration 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


53 


and  credence  by  the  severe  sanctity  of  his  life,  and 
agitated  their  fears  by  the  bold  and  alarming  tenor  of 
his  address,  he  awoke  in  them  vague  but  elevated 
anticipations  of  “  him  that  should  come,”  and  took 
from  them  a  solemn  pledge,  by  baptism,  that  as  soon 
as  that  Illustrious  Personage  appeared  they  would 
enrol  themselves  among  his  disciples.  “Now  when 
all  the  people  were  baptized,”  while  the  herald  voice 
was  yet  ringing  in  their  ears,  and  their  expectation 
was  raised  to  the  utmost  pitch,  Jesus,  the  subject  of 
prophecy,  the  object  of  hope,  the  desire  of  nations, 
appeared,  and  with  ineffable  condescension  received, 
at  the  hands  of  John,  the  baptismal  rite.  Having 
thus  honored  the  ministry  of  his  servant,  and  ratifi¬ 
ed  and  obeyed  existing  laws,  he  ascended  from  the 
waters,  and  prayed  ;  and  as  he  prayed,  “  Lo,  the  heav¬ 
ens  were  opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  spirit  of 
God  descending  like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  him: 
and,  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  This  is  my  be¬ 
loved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased.”  Such  was 
the  splendid  scene  of  his  divine  inauguration  to  an 
office,  to  which  we  behold  him  appointed  by  the  con¬ 
current  suffrages  of  the  eternal  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  invested  with  the  authority,  and  enjoying  the 
complacency  of  the  one, 'anointed  and  endowed  with 
the  unmeasured  fullness  of  the  other;  an  office  which 
was  destined  to  absorb  all  moral  authority,  distinc¬ 
tion,  and  power,  and  in  the  discharge  of  which,  what¬ 
ever  he  uttered  was  henceforth  to  be  regarded  as  law 
and  life. 

In  the  following  essays,  I  propose  to  point  out  the 
leading  features  of  our  Lord’s  instructions.  My  ob¬ 
ject,  be  it  remarked,  is  not  to  attempt  a  detailed  and 
textual  exposition  of  the  truths  he  taught,  the  words 
he  uttered — though  these,  of  necessity,  will  constantly 
be  before  us,  as  our  only  data  and  source  of  illustra¬ 
tion — but  to  elicit  and  exemplify  the  peculiar  qualities 
by  which  these  truths  and  words,  when  viewed  as  a 
whole,  are  distinguished.  With  the  substance  of 
what  he  taught  we  are  all  more  or  less  familiar ; 


54 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


since,  in  common  with  the  stupendous  miracles 
which  marked  his  path,  the  purity  and  perfection  of 
his  character,  his  amazing  death,  and  glorious  resur¬ 
rection,  it  forms  an  important  part  of  our  scripture 
reading,  and  is  one  of  the  ordinary  topics  of  pulpit 
instruction :  but,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  impression 
which  is  generally  entertained  of  the  claims  of  Christ 
as  a  teacher,  is  most  disproportionately  inadequate  ; 
owing,  perhaps,  partly  to  the  absorbing  attractions 
which  invest  the  subject  of  his  atoning  death,  and 
partly  to  that  eclipsing  flood  of  light  which  immedi¬ 
ately  afterwards  burst  on  the  church  in  the  ministry 
of  the  apostles  ;  for,  by  a  known  principle,  truth  evel- 
oped  and  illustrated  will  supplant  and  succeed  in  the 
mind  the  same  truth  condensed  and  primitive,  how¬ 
ever  superior  its  source,  and  throw  over  it  an 
air  of  undeserved  disparagement.  Were  it  proposed 
to  magnify  his  office  as  the  great  Prophet  of  the 
church,  it  would  be  important  to  remark  that  the 
preaching  of  the  apostles,  subsequent  to  his  ascen¬ 
sion,  was  virtually  the  mere  continuation  of  his  own 
preaching;  that  they  were  simply  the  organs  and 
*  oracles  through  which  he  spoke  ;  as  much  so  as 
when  he  had  sent  them  forth,  by  two  and  two,  to 
proclaim  through  Judea  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  the 
only  difference  being,  that  he  had  now  removed  the 
scene  of  his  instructions,  from  earth  to  heaven  :  but, 
without  recurring  to  this  consideration,  and  confin¬ 
ing  ourselves  entirely  to  the  specimens  we  possess  of 
his  personal  teaching,  it  may  easily  be  made  appa¬ 
rent  that,  in  the  most  literal  and  comprehensive  sense 
of  the  expression,  “  never  man  spake  like  this  man.” 
And  in  adopting  the  plan  contemplated,  of  exempli¬ 
fying  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  his  earthly 
teaching,  I  am  principally  moved  by  the  persuasion, 
that  it  is  best  adapted  to  exhibit  an  enlarged,  con¬ 
nected,  and  impressive  view  of  the  emphatic  truth  of 
this  declaration. 

On  meeting  with  an  allusion  to  our  Lord’s  discour¬ 
ses,  avc  naturally  recur,  in  thought,  to  his  sermon  on 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


55 

the  mount,  to  his  parables,  his  charge  to  his  apostles, 
his  more  lengthened  vindicatory  replies  to  the  ques¬ 
tions  and  imputations  of  his  adversaries,  his  terrible 
prophetic  denunciaton  of  the  Jewish  priesthood  and 
nation,  aud  his  valedictory  address  to  his  disciples  on 
the  eve  of  his  crucifixion.  These,  when  brought, 
from  their  various  detached  positions  in  the  gospels, 
and  grouped  together  in  the  mind,  assume,  perhaps, 
a  larger  appearance  than  the  cursory  reader  had  be¬ 
fore  attached  to  them.  He  must,  however,  be  aware, 
that  we  possess  but  a  very  small  portion  of  what  Je¬ 
sus  actually  delivered.  It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that 
he,  who  went  about  doing  good,  and  who  turned  ev¬ 
ery  event  into  an  occasion  of  usefulness,  would  travel 
from  place  to  place,  with  his  disciples,  in  silence. 
Rather,  we  infer  from  the  characteristic  inquisitive¬ 
ness  which  some  of  them  showed,  and  his  uniform 
readiness  to  reply,  that  the  very  scenes  through  which 
he  walked,  if  nothing  else,  would  furnish  him  with  a 
perpetual  occasion  of  instruction  ;  that,  in  traversing 
a  land  so  often  pressed  by  angel’s  feet,  so  rich  in  the 
relics  of  miracle  and  devotion,  that  its  very  soil  had 
lost  its  gross  materiality,  and  every  object  had  acquir¬ 
ed  a  supernatural  aspect,  he  would  often  advert  to 
ancient  times,  making  them  the  text  of  hallowed  re¬ 
mark,  and  thus  turn  the  very  dust  he  trod  into  the 
gold  of  wisdom.  And  yet,  though  so  much  of  his 
time  was  necessarily  occupied  in  frequent,  circuitous, 
and  protracted  journeys,  a  few  fragments,  incidental¬ 
ly  given,  are  all  that  we  have  of  his  divine  communi¬ 
cations  by  the  way. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  mere  conjecture  as  to  the 
probable  occasions  on  which  he  taught.  The  scene 
of  the  first  discourse  he  is  recorded  to  have  uttered, 
appears  to  have  been  Jerusalem ;  but  of  that  memo¬ 
rable  unsealing  of  the  fountains  of  the  waters  of  life, 
we  only  know  that,  in  conjunction  with  his  miracles, 
it  was  the  means  of  inducing  many  to  believe  on  him. 
To  form  an  idea  of  the  immense  proportion  in  which 
the  amount  of  his  teaching  must  have  exceeded  what 


56  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

is  on  record,  we  have  only  to  recall  the  following  ex¬ 
pressions:  “And  Jesus  returned  in  the  power  of  the 
spirit  into  Galilee  ;  and  there  went  out  a  fame  of  him 
through  all  the  region  round  about.  And  he  taught 
in  their  synagogues,  being  glorified  of  all.  And  he 
came  to  Nazareth,  and  preached  there.  And  he 
came  down  to  Caperneum,  and  taught  them  on  the 
sabbath  days.  And  he  said,  I  must  preach  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God  to  other  cities  also  ;  for  therefore  am  I 
sent.  And  he  preached  in  the  synagogues  of  Gali¬ 
lee.”  These  intimations  are  all  to  be  found  in  a  single 
chapter,  the  4th  of  Luke  ;  and  only  refer  to  a  single 
period,  the  opening  of  his  ministry.  But  if  we  bear 
in  mind  that  similar  intimations  are  dispersed  through 
the  gospels,  and  are  equally  applicable  to  all  the  sub¬ 
sequent  stages  of  his  life,  we  shall  be  vividly  impress¬ 
ed,  that  what  we  read  is  merely  a  hint  of  what  he 
delivered.  What  synagogue  in  Galilee,  if  not  in  Ju¬ 
dea,  did  not  resound  to  his  gracious  voice  P  What 
sabbath  did  not  behold  him  breaking  the  bread  of  life 
to  famishing  crowds?  He  held  the  key  of  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom,  and  he  distributed  of  its  stores 
with  the  affluence  and  profusion  of  unwearied  benef¬ 
icence.  He  had  come  to  sow  the  earth  with  truth, 
and  wherever  he  went  he  scattered  in  abundance  the 
incorruptible  seed.  What  has  been  transmitted  by 
the  holy  evangelists  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  inform 
and  to  sanctity ;  had  all  that  he  uttered  in  the  course 
of  his  laborious  ministry  been  preserved — for  he  nev¬ 
er  pronounced  an  idle  word — the  voluminous  mass 
would  have  been  inaccessible  to  the  great  majority, 
and  thus  its  design  would  have  been  defeated  ;  “for 
I  suppose  the  world  itself  would  not  have  been  able 
to  receive  the  books  that  should  be  written.” 

We  may,  I  think,  warrantably  suppose  that,  on 
commencing  his  public  ministry,  the  adorable  Re¬ 
deemer  had  present  to  his  comprehensive  mind,  an 
outline  of  the  truths  which  should  form  the  scope  of 
his  teaching.  The  worthlessness  of  formal  ceremo¬ 
nial  obedience ;  the  spirituality  of  the  law  and  its 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


57 


eternal  obligations ;  the  holy,  benevolent,  and  pater¬ 
nal  character  of  God  ;  the  relations  in  which  we  stand 
to  God,  and  to  each  other ;  the  display  of  his  grace 
in  the  gift  of  his  Son  for  human  salvation  ;  the  spirit¬ 
ual  nature  of  the  gospel  kingdom ;  the  necessity  of 
prayer,  repentance,  and  holiness  in  those  who  be¬ 
long  to  it ;  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  enlight¬ 
en,  renew,  and  sanctify  the  soul ;  the  sublime  fact  of 
bis  own  divine  appointment  to  be  the  Saviour  and 
Judge  of  the  world  ;  these  were  the  momentous 
truths  on  which  lie  chiefly  dwelt,  and  to  these,  what¬ 
ever  the  immediate  occasion  of  his  speaking,  he  per¬ 
petually  returned.  Like  some  of  the  celestial  bod¬ 
ies,  indeed,  which  refuse  to  come  under  any  astro¬ 
nomical  arrangement  of  signs,  some  of  the  lights 
which  he  kindled  and  placed  in  the  great  firmament 
of  truth  stand  out  in  isolated  grandeur  and  shine 
apart.  But  though  this  was  to  be  expected  from  the 
awful  extent  of  that  ignorance  he  came  to  enlighten 
from  the  stores  of  his  wisdom,  and  the  variety  of  oc¬ 
casion  which  called  it  forth,  the  mass  of  his  divine 
instructions  will  be  found  to  come  under  the  enu¬ 
meration  we  have  specified.  And  it  is  from  his  dis¬ 
courses  and  discoveries,  on  these  topics,  that  we  now 
proceed  to  exhibit  those  distinguishing  marks  of  his 
teaching  on  which  we  propose  to  treat. 

It  is  impossible  to  peruse  the  instructions  of  Christ 
without  remarking  the  tone  of  authority  which  per¬ 
vades  them :  this  was  the  characteristic  by  which  his 
hearers,  on  several  occasions,  appear  to  have  been 
chiefly  impressed  ;  and  to  this,  therefore,  we  think  it 
natural  to  advert  first.  Of  his  personal  appearance, 
and  general  address,  we  are  left  in  ignorance : 
nor  is  it  necessary,  that,  in  order  to  form  an  idea  of 
his  teaching,  we  should  be  able  to  imagine  them. 
F or  this  purpose  we  have  only  to  suppose,  what  is 
surely  allowable,  that  they  were  in  no  wayunfriendly 
to  useful  effect ;  and  that,  whatever  the  theme  which 
engaged  his  tongue,  his  voice,  and  words,  and  gest¬ 
ures  accorded  with  it,  being  true  to  nature,  and  to 


58 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  eloquence  of  holy  human  feeling.  And  hence, 
the  authority  with  which  he  spoke  was  not  of  one 
unvaried  character,  but  was  marked  and  modified  by 
1  the  nature  of  his  subject.  There  was  authority  in 
his  invitations  and  promises,  not  less  than  in  his  de¬ 
nunciations  and  commands,  for  they  were  uttered  in 
the  language  of  independent  goodness  and  power; 
but  while  we  hear  in  the  former  the  overflowings  of 
paternal  tenderness  and  love,  we  recognize  in  the 
latter  the  tones  of  the  lawgiver  and  the  judge.  Avail¬ 
ing  myself  of  this  variety,  it  may  serve  to  promote 
distinctness  and  easier  recollection,  if  I  classify  the 
quotations  I  intend  to  make  accordingly. 

I.  There  are  passages  which  exhibit  especially  the 
authority  of  goodness.  “  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden  ;  and  I  will  give  you  rest.” 

“If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me,  and 
drink.”  “Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out.”  Who  can  listen  to  these  great  and 
gracious  announcements  without  feeling  himself 
standing  in  the  presence  of  superior  goodness  ?  His 
first  emotion  may  be  that  of  admiring  gratitude  at 
the  display  of  so  much  benignity  and  compassion  ; 
but  scarcely  can  it  fail  to  be  followed  by  the  delight¬ 
ful  yet  awful  impression,  that  he  is  occupying  holy 
ground,  standing  near  the  fountain  of  mercy  itself. 
Wliat  distinguished  dignity  and  grace  do  we  recog¬ 
nize  in  sentences  such  as  these;  “I  am  the  light  of 
the  world:”  “lam  the  bread  of  life  “I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life;”  “  I  am  the  good  shep¬ 
herd,  and  give  unto  my  sheep  eternal  life:”  “lam 
come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly.”  When  from  the  midst  of 
the  burning  bush  Jehovah  proclaimed  himself,  I  am 
that  I  am,  he  announced  his  independent  existence 
and  self-sufficient  perfections;  in  other  words,  he' de¬ 
clared  what  he  is  in  himself.  In  these  declarations  of 
Jesus,  we  recognize  the  same  ineffable  Being  de¬ 
scribing  what  he  is  to  his  people ;  laying  open  the  re¬ 
sources  of  his  infinite  nature,  appropriating  and  ap- 


59 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 

plying  them,  with  high  complacency  in  the  act,  to 
the. wants  of  our  guilty  race :  in  each  instance,  the 
dignity  addressing  us  is  the  same,  only  that  in  the 
language  of  the  Incarnate  Word,  the  awful  is  ex¬ 
changed  for  the  attractive  and  gracious.  He  spoke 
like  the  soul  of  universal  goodness,  conscious  ot  a 
power  of  breathing  into  prostrate  humanity  the  breath 
of  life ;  of  entering  the  vast  capacities  of  the  world, 
and  filling  them  all  with  the  fullness  ot  joy.  And, 
as  the  only  other  illustration  we  shall  adduce,  think 
of  the  opening  of  his  divine  discourse  on  the  Mount 
of  Beatitudes.  How  like  a  cloud  of  goodness  did 
he  crown  the  honored  mount,  and  shower  his  bene¬ 
dictions  with  a  copiousness,  which  showed  that  it 
was  at  once  his  pleasure  and  his  perogative  to  bless. 
In  a  way  which  evinced  that,  while  so  employed,  he 
was  only  engaged  in  his  own  peculiar  province  ;  that 
the  treasures  of  eternity  were  at  his  command  ;  that 
in  the  disposal  of  them  he  knew  no  control ;  that  he 
thought  it  no  robbery  to  enact  the  God  ;  he  rejected 
the  minions  and  favorites  of  the  world,  and,  calling 
authoritatively  on  a  peculiar  people,  he  distributed 
them  into  classes,  assigned  to  each  an  appropriate 
award,  and  made  them  free  of  the  universal  kingdom 
of  God.  Having  brought  into  the  world  the  accu¬ 
mulated  treasures  of  the  eternal  God,  thus  publicly 
did  he  adopt  his  heirs,  and  authoritatively  assign  to 
each  his  respective  share.  Turning  to  such  as  might 
suffer  for  his  “  name’s  sake”  last,  he  declared  that 
“  great  should  be  their  reward  in  heaven  thus  dis¬ 
closing  the  dignity  which  attached  to  his  name,  and 
the  unlimited  authority  he  possesses  in  heaven. 

II.  There  were  occasions  when  he  spoke  with  the 
authority  of  givatness.  “  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,” 
said  he,  “let him  hear;”  and  in  thus  bespeaking  uni¬ 
versal  and  submissive  attention,  he  was  only  repeat¬ 
ing  the  command  from  the  excellent  glory  which  had 
summoned  the  world  to  listen  while  he  spoke,  and 
to  receive  every  word  he  might,  utter  as  law  and  life. 
In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  that  command,  he 


GO 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


did  not  hesitate  to  compare  himself  with  the  most 
distinguished  lights  of  the  Jewish  church,  and  to 
claim  pre-eminence  over  them  all.  Jonah  was  one 
of  the  most  exalted  names  of  which  the  Israelites 
could  boast.  His  voice,  like  a  blast  from  the  trump 
of  God,  had  pealed  through  the  streets  of  Nineveh, 
and  had  made  all  its  palaces  tremble :  his  preach¬ 
ing  had  humbled  the  mightiest  nations  of  the 
east ;  had  in'strumentally  preserved  an  empire  from 
destruction  ;  had  caused  their  religion  and  their  laws 
to  be  revered  by  the  surrounding  lands,  and  had 
greatly  exalted  the  God  of  Israel  before  the  heathen. 
Yet  aware  that  all  these  impressions  of  Jonah’s  great¬ 
ness  were  vividly  present  to  their  minds,  “be¬ 
hold,”  said  he,  “a  greater  than  Jonah  is  here!”  Sol¬ 
omon  with  them  was  a  name  for  glory.  As  the  found¬ 
er  of  their  magnificent  temple,  as  the  instrument  of 
raising  their  nation  to  the  loftiest  point  of  prosperity, 
as  the  most  highly  endowed  and  wisest  of  men,  the 
depository  and  personification  of  wisdom,  they  hal¬ 
lowed  his  name  with  a  reverence  which  fell  little 
short  of  idolatry :  so  that  to  assert  superiority  to  him' 
was,  in  their  eyes,  to  claim  to  be  considered  as  more 
than  a  man ;  as  passing  beyond  the  limits  of  human¬ 
ity,  and  invading  the  precincts  of  Deity.  Yet  aware 
that  such  was  their  high  and  jealous  regard  for  his 
fame,  and  while  standing  amidst  the  splendid  memo¬ 
rials  of  his  greatness,  “Behold,”  said  he,  “a  greater 
than  Solomon  is  here!”  Not  only  did  he  claim  to 
eclipse  their  brightest  luftiinaries,  he  spoke  of  all  the 
flower  and  prime  of  their  nation,  as  having  longed 
to  complete  their  earthly  distinctions  by  sitting  at  his 
feet,  and  following  in  his  ti'ain.  “  He  turned  unto  his 
disciples  and  said,  Blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they 
see,  and  your  ears,  for  they  hear.  For  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  that  many  prophets,  and  kings,  and  right¬ 
eous  men,  have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye 
see,  and  have  not  seen  them ;  and  to  hear  those 
things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard  them.” 
And,  as  though  to  extinguish  with  a  breath,  and  for- 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


63 


ever,  all  idea  of  rivalsliip  with  him,  he  distinctly  as¬ 
sumed  and  appropriated  as  his  right,  the  title  of  au¬ 
thority  his  followers  had  placed  at  his  feet,  and  af¬ 
firmed  his  claim  to  the  entire  subjection  and  allegi¬ 
ance  of  their  faith.  “Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord, 
and  ye  say  well,  for  so  I  am ;  one  is  your  master, 
even  Christ.”  Thus  taking  possession  of  the  sacred 
domain  of  conscience  in  his  own  name,  he  erected  a 
throne  whose  supremacy  it  is  treason  to  question,  and 
blasphemy  to  attempt  to  usurp. 

In  his  graphic  and  awful  allusions  to  the  last  day, 
in  none  of  which  he  fails  to  make  prominent  the  glo¬ 
rious  tribunal  of  the  son  of  man,  what  a  voice  of  au¬ 
thority  and  majesty  is  heard  to  speak !  While  read¬ 
ing,  for  instance,  his  parabolical  representation  of  it, 
in  the  25th  of  Matthew,  how  imperceptibly  but  irre¬ 
sistibly  is  the  attention  engaged  and  the  heart  subdu¬ 
ed  ;  till,  having  marked  with  conscious  concern  the 
partition  betwixt  the  sheep  and  the  goats, and  intense¬ 
ly  listened  to  his  portentous  addresses  to  each,  and 
trembled  at  the  temerity  evinced  in  the  defence  of 
the  wicked,  and  sympathized  with  the  characteristic 
reply  of  the  righteous,  we  hang  with  breathless  anxi¬ 
ety  on  the  lips  which  pronounce  their  respective 
awards,  and  feel  at  the  breaking  up  and  departure  of 
the  vast  assembly  to  their  separate  states,  as  though 
we  ourselves  had  been  arraigned  in  his  august  pres¬ 
ence,  how  entirely  we  are  in  his  hands,  and  how  in¬ 
significant  we  are  there.  Having  amazed  his  hearers 
by  the  announcement  of  that  partial  resurrection 
which  accompanied  and  adorned  his  own  triumph 
over  the  grave,  he  bade  them  reserve  their  wonder 
for  the  far  more  impressive  scenes  of  the  last  day ; 
“  Marvel  not  at  this,  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the 
which  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  man,  and  shall  come  forth.”  If  we  would 
recognize  the  authority  which  belongs  to  every  part 
of  his  teaching,  we  have  only  to  realize  the  thought, 
that  in  listening  to  him,  we  are  actually  listening  to 
the  voice  which  is  soon  to  resound  through  all  the 
6 


(32 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


nations  of  the  dead,  and  to  which  we  ourselves  shall 
reply  by  awaking  and  leaving  the  chambers  of  the 
grave.  When  all  the  universe  shall  be  convened  for 
judgment,  the  only  parties  remaining  will  be  He  who 
judges  and  they  who  are  judged  ;  of  all  the  multiplied 
relations  which  now  subsist,  that  which  makes  us  ac¬ 
countable  to  God  will  alone  be  felt :  so  that,  were  it 
possible  in  that  awful  juncture  for  every  order  of  cre¬ 
ated  beings  to  disown  and  desert  us,  the  calamity 
would  fail,  from  its  comparative  insignificance,  to  at¬ 
tract  our  notice.  Yet  the  Saviour  unequivocally  im¬ 
plies  that  if  he  alone  “  profess  to  be  ashamed,”  of  us, 
our  doom  will  be  sealed:  that  it  will  be  only  for  him 
to  disown  us,  happiness  and  hope  will  instantly  de¬ 
sert  us,  and,  from  that  moment  we  shall  have  to  date 
our  woe.  Virtue,  wherever  it  exists,  is  greatness  of 
the  highest  order;  for  it  allies  us  to  supreme  great¬ 
ness  ;  but,  as  though  he  represented  and  embodied 
universal  holiness  in  his  own  person,  as  though  he 
were  at  once  the  author  and  champion  of  all  right¬ 
eousness,  he  engages  to  reward  every  act  that  be¬ 
friends  it,  as  an  honor  conferred  on  himself;  while, 
whatever  opposes  it,  even  in  thought,  lie  describes  as 
a  violence  offered  to  his  own  nature  which  he  feels 
himself  bound  to  resent.  “Ye  did  it  unto  me,  or,  ye 
did  it  not  unto  me;"  these  are  the  terms  of  aggrava¬ 
tion  in  which  he  depicts  himself  describing  every  act, 
and  by  which  he  informs  us  that,  as  he  sits  on 
the  throne  of  judgment,  the  great  centre  of  the 
congregated  world,  every  act  will  be  seen,  like  aline, 
pointing  to  him  as  its  object  and  end  ;  or  else,  in  for¬ 
getfulness  and  enmity,  diverging  from  him,  and  losing 
itself  in  outer  darkness. 

The  name  of  a  person  is  a  familiar  formula  to  de¬ 
note  his  character  and  influence.  The  name  of  God 
is  a  compendious  idiom  of  scripture,  importing  his 
glory,  the  fullness  and  totality  of  his  divine  perfections. 
Hence,  every  thing  peculiar  to  the  legal  economy 
was  prescribed  in  his  name  as  the  Fountain  of  author¬ 
ity,  or  was  required  to  be  done  to  his  name,  as  its 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


G3 


only  legitimate  object  and  end.  In  introducing  the 
Christian  economy,  we  find  Jesus  denoting  his  power 
and  supremacy  in  the  same  manner.  Copying  the 
example  of  Deity,  he  impressed  his  name  upon  every 
act,  and  object,  and  office,  peculiar  to  the  new  dis¬ 
pensation.  His  disciples,  as  often  as  they  desired  to 
call  down  spiritual  blessings,  were  to  employ  his 
name,  and  their  plea  would  prevail.  They  were  to 
gather  together  for  social  worship  to  his  name.  They 
were  to  baptize  to  his  name.  In  his  name  they  were  to 
summon  and  subvert  the  strong-holds  of  idolatry  and 
sin,  and  to  arouse  the  nations  from  the  slumbers  of 
spiritual  death.  Speaking  in  his  name,  they  were  to 
find  the  ordinances  of  nature  miraculously  obedient 
to  their  voice.  His  name  was  to  be  their  watchword, 
their  badge  of  distinction,  the  principal  of  their  piety, 
the  bond  of  their  union,  die  end  of  their  actions,  the 
authority  for  their  conduct,  and  the  source  of  their 
success.  Nothing  was  to  be  recognised  or  received 
in  his  kingdom,  which  did  not  bear  the  superscrip¬ 
tion  of  his  name  ;  every  thing  was  to  confess  his  su¬ 
premacy,  by  acknowledging  him  for  its  author,  or 
else  for  its  ultimate  design. 

But  these  illustrations  of  the  dignity  which  marked 
the  teaching  of  Christ  might  be  multiplied  indefinite¬ 
ly.  I  do  not  profess  to  have  selected  the  best :  for 
when  I  have  hoped  the  difficulty  of  selection  was 
over,  a  new  specimen  has  suddenly  occurred,  bring¬ 
ing  in  its  train  a  host  of  fresh  illustrations,  as  eligi¬ 
ble  as  those  already  cited.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiari¬ 
ties  of  our  Lord’s  teaching,  that  he  was  his  own  sub¬ 
ject;  and  seldom  does  he  release  our  attention  from 
the  exalted  theme.  As  if  he  sought  to  be  always  pre¬ 
sent  to  our  eye,  he  converted  all  nature  into  an  index 
to  his  greatness,  treated  it  as  an  intended  system  of 
emblems  of  himself.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  the 
much-admired  saying  of  Plato,  that  light  is  “only  the 
shadow  of  God,”  was  applied  by  our  Lord  to  himself. 
“  I,”  said  he,  “  am  the  light  of  the  world  the  sun  is 
only  “  my  emblematic  representative.”  Water,  and 


04 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


air,  arul  light,  and  life,  the  great  elements  of  existence, 
the  universal  principles,  were  selected  by  him  as  the 
only  adequate  emblems  of  his  greatness.  How  nu¬ 
merous  the  occasions  in  which  lie  partially  removed 
the  veil  of  his  greatness;  heightening  our  concep¬ 
tions  of  his  majesty  by  the  terms  of  reserve  in  which 
he  spoke  of  it.  Ills  pre-existence,  his  personal  dig¬ 
nity,  his  prospective  glory  ;  these  were  themes  famil¬ 
iar  to  his  tongue.  “  lie  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God  and  accordingly  when  he  claimed 
the  equality,  he  did  not  employ  any  pom])  of  words, 
he  did  not  appoint  a  public  occasion,  and  assemble 
the  nation,  and  command  attention  by  the  trumpets 
and  thunder  of  Sinai ;  like  one  to  whom  all  greatness 
was  familiar,  he  simply  announced  it  in  his  common 
speech.  “As  the  Father,”  said  he,  “knowetb  me,  even 
so  know  I  the  Father.  The  Son  restoreth  to  life 
whom  lie  will.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are 
mine.  I  and  my  Father  are  one.  I  appoint  unto  you 
a  kingdom.”  Greatness,  which  baffles  and  astonishes 
our  conceptions,  he  spoke  of  in  a  tone  of  unmoved 
tranquility.  lie  lays  liis  hand  on  the  throne  of  God 
with  the  spontaneous  ease  of  an  eternal  habitude. 
Arraying  himself  in  all  the  perfections  of  Godhead, 
and  putting  on  his  head  the  crown  of  Deity,  he  as¬ 
sumes  his  seat  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and 
claims  a  community  of  supreme  honors.  Grandeur, 
which  the  heart  of  man  hath  not  imagined,  and  which 
even  his  apostles  could  not  glance  at  without  emo¬ 
tions  of  unutterable  wonder,  he  -  speaks  of  without 
any  effort,  and  distributes  without  any  ostentation. 
Astonishment  is  only  for  those  to  whom  knowledge 
is  novelty  ;  but  “  the  glory  which  is  to  be  revealed”  to 
us,  is  “  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was;”  the  unapproachable  splendors  of  the 
celestial  state,  he  speaks  of  as  ever  present  to  his 
mind,  as  the  natural  and  familiar  scenes  of  his  Fa¬ 
ther’s  house.  The  heavenly  heights  to  which  we  can 
ascend  only  as  we  arc  succored  and  raised  by  an 
omnipotent  arm,  was  the  state  of  exaltation  with 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


G5 


which  lie  had  ever  moved  on  a  level,  and  from  which 
he  had  visited  us  only  by  accomplishing  a  laborious 
descent.  He  carried  our  views  of  his  greatness  from 
the  present  to  the  future  ;  declared  that  his  final 
doom  of  the  wicked  will  be,  “  depart  from  me  im¬ 
porting  that  banishment  from  him  will  be  exile  from 
happiness, the  consummation  of  human  woe:  while, on 
the  other  hand,  the  peculiar  and  eternal  charm  of  that 
world  where  all  is  glorious,  is  to  consist  in  the  mani¬ 
festation  and  enjoyment  of  his  presence.  “  Where  I 
am,  there  also  shall  my  servant  be.”  “  I  will  that 
they  be  with  me  where  I  am,  to  behold  my  glory.” 

Under  this  head,  it  is  needful  to  remark,  that  the 
pervading  style  of  our  Lord’s  teaching  is  that  of  as¬ 
sertion  and  testimony.  While  it  pre-supposes  the 
laws  of  reason,  it  does  not,  nor  could  it  without  mani¬ 
fest  incongruity,  make  an  appeal  to  them.  His  dis¬ 
closures  of  truth  are  necessarily  dogmatic.  But  since 
man,  if  he  is  to  be  treated  as  a  rational  being,  must 
have  adequate  grounds  on  which  to  rest  his  belief, 
our  Lord,  in  the  stead  of  arguments,  constructed  a 
basis  of  miracles.  He  claimed  to  be  “  belie  ved  for  his 
work’s  sake-”  They  were  the  hand  of  God,  endorsing 
and  attesting  as  true  whatever  he  revealed.  Having 
thus  acquired  a  right  to  dictate,  he  could  not  have 
submitted  the  principles  he  announced  to  the  ordina¬ 
ry  process  of  argumentation,  without  implying  that 
human  reasoning,  our  present  impaired  perceptions 
of  truth,  was  a  surer  ground  for  reliance  than  the  pur¬ 
est  reason ;  he  would  have  been  expunging  faith 
from  the  Christian  virtues,  exalting  human  reason,  or 
that  which  stands  for  it,  above  the  wisdom  of  God, 
and  treating  it  as  though  in  the  sphere  of  religion  it 
were  perfect,  and  at  home  ;  whereas  he  found  it  pros¬ 
trate  and  lost,  and  had  to  rekindle  its  extinguished 
torch  with  the  very  first  elements  of  sacred  know¬ 
ledge.  Surrounded  with  divine  credentials,  he  took 
his  stand  as  a  living  oracle,  and  demanded  the  cre¬ 
dence  of  all  who  heard  his  unreasoned  verities.  He 
spake  as  one  having  authority,  addressing  himself  to 
6* 


GG 


THE  GEE  AT  TEACHER, 


humility,  obedience,  and  implicit  faith.  Every  sci¬ 
ence  has  its  data :  fundamental  principles  assumed 
to  be  true,  on  the  unquestioned  authority  of  which  all 
its  deductions  and  applications  rest ;  in  the  science  of 
theology,  the  sayings  of  Christ  are  ultimate  truths. 
From  these,  as  from  first  principles,  all  our  rea¬ 
soning  in  religion  must  proceed :  to  call  in  question 
their  authority,  would  be  to  disturb  and  subvert  the 
foundations  of  truth.  His  dictates  constitute  the  ru¬ 
diments  of  sacred  science ;  and  they  are  to  be  acqui¬ 
esced  in,  as  the  reasons  of  duty,  and  the  laws  of  faith. 

III.  A  third  quality,  which  imparted  a  style  of 
awful  authority  to  our  Lord’s  teaching,  was  solemnity. 
In  the  Old  Testament,  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  is  a 
form  of  divine  asseveration,  which  compels  atten¬ 
tion  ;  and  which,  by  giving  the  existence  of  Jehovah 
in  pledge,  imparts  to  sentiments  already  grave  in 
themselves  the  exceeding  awfulness  of  an  infinite 
oath.  Answerable  to  this,  is  that  remarkable  formu¬ 
la  employed  by  Christ,  and  peculiar  to  him,  with 
which  he  so  often  commands  attention,  as  with  the 
blast  of  a  trumpet,  “Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.” 
The  reiteration  of  the  first  word,  proceeding  from 
the  lips  of  him  who  is  “  the  truth,”  and  “  the  word  of 
God,”  invests  the  announcements  which  follow  with 
a  superlative  sanctity  and  solemnity,  as  if  they  came 
to  us  legibly  impressed  with  the  stamp  and  seal  of 
God.  Solemnity  of  address,  at  all  times  affecting,  is 
never  more  so  than  when,  like  elemental  thunder,  it 
proclaims  the  terrors  of  the  Lord.  Whoever  may 
be  the  organ  of  divine  denunciation,  he  has  only  to 
evince  that  he  feels  the  weight  and  burden  of  his 
message,  in  order  to  obtain  respectful  audience  from 
the  conscience  of  the  sinner,  and  to  awaken  and  au¬ 
thenticate  its  most  hidden  forebodings.  But  what  an 
appalling  accession  to  the  Redeemer’s  power  of 
rebuke  is  derived  from  the  consideration  of  his  pre¬ 
vailing  compassion,  as  well  as  of  bis  mysterious  re¬ 
sources  to  fulfil  and  to  punish.  The  voice  of  him 
who  was  “meek  and  lowly  in  heart,”  uttering  the 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


G7 


hoarse  and  exasperated  accents  of  wrath,  is  more 
than  a  recollection  of  Sinai.  But  how  was  it  possi¬ 
ble  that  even  mercy  itself  could  visit  a  scene  like 
that  which  he  traversed,  and  maintain  a  style  of  un¬ 
mingled  tenderness.  Accordingly,  there  were  occa¬ 
sions  when,  surveying  the  proud,  hypocritical,  and 
guilty  throngs  which  crowded  his  path,  he  clothed 
himself  with  zeal  as  with  a  garment,  and,  with  a 
consuming  jealousy  for  the  insulted  majesty  of  God, 
“  took  them  into  his  lips,  and  smote  them  with  the 
sword  of  his  mouth.”  Witness  the  cleansing  of  the 
temple.  Intent  on  gain,  the  Jews  had  converted  the 
holy  place  into  a  scene  of  sacrilegious  traffic ;  they 
had  turned  the  ancient  and  solemn  passover  itself  to 
profit ;  they  bartered  deep  in  the  blood  of  human 
souls;  they  worshiped  mammon  in  his  Father’s 
house;  But,  “  suddenly  coming  to  his  temple,”  he 
flamed  around  its  hallowed  walls  “like  a  refiner’s 
fire,”  and  with  the  tones  of  injured  and  insulted  Deity, 
rained  on  their  consciences  such  strokes  of  terrible 
dismay,  that  they  eagerly  Sought  refuge  from  his  ho¬ 
ly  indignation  in  flight,  leaving  him  the  Lord,  and 
sole  possessor  of  the  sanctuary. 

But  chiefly,  let  us  recall  to  our  recollection  the  un¬ 
broken  series  of  pregnant  woes  which  he  denounced 
during  his  last  visit  to  the  temple.  Long  had  he 
walked,  like  an  incarnate  conscience,  through  their 
guilty  land  ;  and  often  had  they  been  troubled,  and 
trembled  at  the  rebuke  of  his  sacred  presence.  Hav¬ 
ing  nearly  filled  the  capacious  measure  of  their  in¬ 
iquity  by  rejecting  him,  they  were  about  to  make  it 
overflow  by  his  crucifixion.  Undeterred  by  the  ap¬ 
palling  prospect,  he  came  with  unfaltering  step  to  the 
scene  of  his  sufferings,  to  finish  the  work  which  was 
given  him  to  do.  Finding  himself  surrounded  in 
the  temple  by  a  large  assemblage  of  Jewish  doctors, 
scribes,  and  lawyers  and  pharisees  the  very  elements 
and  essence  of  the  nation’s  guilt ;  he  assailed  and  de¬ 
molished  the  enormous  fabric  of  sanctimonious  hy¬ 
pocrisy,  which  their  laborious  impiety  had  reared, 


68  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

and,  with  the  fidelity  and  fearlessness  of  the  king  of 
martyrs,  denounced  and  delivered  his  final  protest 
against  the  pride  and  the  power  which  upheld  it. 
They  had  occasionally  heard  his  fearful  commina- 
tions  before,  and  trembled  for  their  security,  for  every 
W'ord  was  a  weapon  ;  but  now,  having  regularly  in¬ 
vested  and  approached  their  fortified  guilt,  he  open¬ 
ed  on  them  the  dreadful  artillery  of  his  divine  male¬ 
diction.  An  occasional  flash  had  before  apprized 
them  that  a  storm  might  be  near ;  but  now  having 
collected  together  all  the  materials  of  tempest  into 
one  black  and  fearful  mass,  and  having  awed  them 
to  silence  as  nature  is  hushed  when  awaiting  a  crisis, 
he  discharged  its  tremendous  contents,  in  one  volley¬ 
ed  and  prolonged  explosion,  on  their  guilty  and  un¬ 
sheltered  heads.  He  arraigned  them  as  though  he 
had  already  ascended  the  seat  of  doom,  ahd  laid 
open  all  the  sepulchral  recesses  of  their  iniquity,  as 
though  he  read  from  the  book  of  God’s  remem¬ 
brance.  Hypocrisy  was  unable  to  conceal  itself  in 
the  clouds  of  incense  which  it  offered.  The  proud, 
the  covetous,  the  intolerant,  he  confounded  and  cov¬ 
ered  with  the  shame  of  detection  and  conscious  guilt. 
As  they  came  up  for  judgement,  in  succession,  he  ful¬ 
minated  against  them  the  woes  and  imprecations  of 
his  wrath,  “  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb,”  in  tones  antici¬ 
pating  those  of  their  final  sentence.  “  Woe  unto 
you,  scribes  and  pharisees,  hypocrites  !”  “  One  woe 

is  past,  and  behold,  another  woe  cometli,”  “Woe 
unto  you,  scribes  and  pharisees,  hypocrites !  ye  ser¬ 
pents,  ye  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape 
the  damnation  of  hell  ?”  That  solemn  scene,  re¬ 
membering  the  character  of  the  Great  Reprover,  and 
the  impending  judgments  of  which  it  was  prognos¬ 
tic,  may  well  remind  us  of  the  seven  apocalyptic 
thunders  uttering  their  voices  ;  and  often,  may  we 
suppose,  would  the  echoes  of  his  denunciations  re¬ 
turn  upon  the  ears  of  those  who  heard  them  in  after 
years,  like  the  distant,  but  quailing  reverberations  of 
the  mount  that  burned. 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


G9 


IV.  Another  characteristic  of  the  authority  which 
marked  the  teaching  of  our  Lord,  and  the  last  1  pro¬ 
pose  to  illustrate,  is  that  which  he  discovered  in  his 
legislative  and  judicial  capacity.  To  disturb  the  ma¬ 
jestic  repose  of  the  divine  law,  argues,  on  the  part  of 
him  who  attempts  it,  either  the  final  stage  of  insane 
impiety,  or  an  authority  clothed  with  the  prerogatives 
of  the  original  lawgiver.  In  this  latter  exalted  pre¬ 
dicament  the  Saviour  claimed  to  stand  ;  “  As  the  Fa¬ 
ther,”  said  lie,  “  hath  life  in  himself;  so  hath  he  given 
to  the  Son,  to  have  life  in  himself;  and  hath  given 
him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also,  because  he  is 
the  son  of  man.”  “  All  things  are  delivered  unto  me 
of  my  Father.”  In  the  exercise  of  his  legal  suprem¬ 
acy,  he  may  be  said  to  have  revised  the  laws  of  heav¬ 
en.  Not  only  did  he  put  on  them  his  own  authori¬ 
tative  interpretation,  from  which  he  permits  no  ap¬ 
peal,  and  by  which  he  greatly  extended  the  sphere  of 
their  jurisdiction,  in  bestowing  forgiveness,  he  even 
controlled  and  suspended  their  operation  ;  he  pro¬ 
nounced  what  part  of  the  divine  code  was  of  perpet¬ 
ual,  and  what  of  temporary  obligation  ;  he  repealed 
its  positive  enactments,  and  enjoined  others ;  while, 
by  laying  open  the  scenes  of  the  final  judgment,  and 
speaking  as  from  the  mysterious  cross,  he  placed  it 
on  another  basis,  infused  into  it  a  new  vigor,  and  aug¬ 
mented  its  force  in  the  highest  degree. 

When  the  sanctimonious  pharisees,  impatient  to 
accuse  him,  but  despairing  of  a  charge,  alleged 
against  him  the  trivial  act  of  his  hungry  disciples,  in 
plucking  the  ears  of  corn  on  the  sabbath  day,  he  not 
only  established  the  innocence  of  the  deed,  but  with 
what  an  air  of  inimitable  dignity  did  he  cast  over  it 
the  ample  shield  of  his  own  prerogative  ;  “  the  Son 
of  man,”  said  he,  “  is  Lord  even  of  the  sabbath  day.” 
On  another  occasion,  when  the  same  unappeasable 
intolerance,  and  cloked  hypocrisy,  construed  an  act 
of  healing  into  a  breach  of  the  sabbath,  he  again  as¬ 
serted  his  superiority  to  the  law.  But,  beyond  this, 
he  expounded  his  right  to  that  superiority  ;  lie  declar- 


70  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

ed,  that,  as  the  operations  of  the  Father  knew  no  in¬ 
termission,  so  neither  did  his  ;  that  as  the  machinery 
of  Providence  does  not  pause  in  deference  to  the  sab¬ 
batic  law,  but  continues,  through  every  moment  of 
time,  to  fill  the  universe  with  its  agency,  so  he  ac¬ 
knowledged  no  restraint,  but  claimed  the  same  un¬ 
limited  scope,  and  infinite  freedom  of  activity  for  his 
beneficence  :  thus  clearly  placing  his  own  miraculous 
works  on  a  level  with  the  works  of  God  ;  demanding 
the  same  consideration  for  their  character ;  and  as¬ 
suming  an  equality,  or  rather  an  identity,  with  the 
Supreme,  in  will,  and  right,  and  power.  “  My  Father 
worketh  until  now,  and  I  work.  Whatsoever  things 
the  Father  doeth,  those  things  the  Son  also  doeth  in 
like  manner.”  But  his  dispensation  with  the  law  of 
the  sabbath  was  only  a  specimen  of  his  supreme  au¬ 
thority.  By  issuing  the  final  and  sovereign  mandate 
to  his  disciples,  “  Go  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature  he  viritually  annulled 
the  Jewish  ritual,  and  repealed  a  whole  economy, 
casting  it  back  among  the  things  that  were  ;  while, 
by  replacing  it  with  ordinances  of  his  own  enact¬ 
ment,  and  sacred  to  his  worship,  he  proclaimed  him¬ 
self  the  founder  and  legislator  of  a  new  religion. 

For  the  establishment  of  his  religion,  a  display  of 
miraculous  power  was  necessary ;  and,  accordingly, 
lie  not  only  declared  his  ability  and  rights  to  control 
at  pleasure  the  laws  of  nature,  he  placed  those  laws 
as  he  saw  fit,  under  the  subjection  of  his  apostles  al¬ 
so.  “  When  he  had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disci¬ 
ples,  he  gave  them  power  against  unclean  spirits,  to 
cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all  manner  of  sickness, 
and  all  manner  of  disease.  And  these  signs  shall 
follow  them  that  believe  ;  in  my  name  shall  they 
work  miracles.”  “  And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in 
my  name,  that  I  will  do.” 

The  exercise  of  his  supremacy,  in  the  instances 
we  have  cited,  was  accompanied  by  the  most  illus¬ 
trious  displays  of  authority,  in  developing  and  en¬ 
forcing  the  eternal  and  unchangeable  laws  of  moral- 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


71 


ity.  The  morality  of  the  Mosaic  code  was  of  divine 
dictation  ;  but,  in  revising  its  statutes  and  giving  it 
perfection,  he  introduces  his  new  prescriptions  with 
this  preamble,  “Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to 
them  of  old  time — but  I  say  unto  you  thus  placing 
his  own  legislation  on  a  footing  with  the  authority  of 
Sinai ;  and,  if  not  actually  effacing  the  original  tables, 
to  make  room  for  his  own  statutes,  yet  inserting  and 
incorporating  these  statutes  at  pleasure,  and  publish¬ 
ing  them  as  a  part  of  the  eternal  law.  How  tender, 
yet  inconcealable,  the  tone  of  authority  in  which  he 
said  to  his  disciples,  when  he  was  only  a  step  from 
the  cross,  “  A  new  commandment  give  I  unto  you, 
that  ye  love  one  another.”  To  regard  this  as  a  mere 
republication,  seems  to  impugn  the  modesty  which 
distinguished  his  character,  for  it  represents  him  as 
claiming  originality  and  novelty  for  that  which  is  on¬ 
ly  the  revival  of  an  obsolete  law.  But  with  that  an¬ 
cient  precept  which  enjoined  love  to  our  neighbor, 
this  new  command  has  no  affinity  except  in  appear¬ 
ance  ;  it  differs  in  its  nature,  its  objects,  and  in  the 
peculiar  considerations  by  which  it  is  enforced. 
That  prescribes  the  love  of  benevolence  ;  this  re¬ 
quires  the  love  of  complacency :  that  enjoins  loving 
kindness,  the  love  of  the  kind,  of  man  as  man  ;  this 
enjoins  the  love  of  character,  of  virtue,  of  man  as 
Christian  ;  while  its  claims  to  novelty  is  completed  by 
the  divine  Legislator  proposing  his  own  example,  as 
the  model  and  motive  to  obedience.  But  that  which 
displays  his  superiority  to  all  human,  all  merely  dele¬ 
gated  authority,  and  which  places  him  on  a  level  with 
the  Supreme  Power  is,  that  having  enacted  laws,  he 
can  ensure  obedience.  The  highest  praise  of  an 
earthly  lawgiver,  is  to  adapt  his  laws  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  claims  of  abstract  right,  on  the  one 
hand  ;  and  to  the  peculiar  state  of  the  people  receiv¬ 
ing  them,  on  the  other.  He  can  do  little  more  to 
promote  obedience  to  them,  than  by  publicly  chastis¬ 
ing  the  refractory  and  disobedient-  But  the  great 
Prophet  and  Lawgiver  of  the  Christian  church,  liav- 


72  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

ing  consulted  our  nature  in  the  requirements  he 
makes,  can  then  conform  our  nature  to  this  authori¬ 
ty  ;  having  authoritatively  announced  his  will,  he  can 
carry  it  into  all  the  recesses  of  the  soul,  and,  in  per¬ 
fect  harmony  with  our  free  volitions,  can  so  identify 
it  with  our  thoughts  and  aims,  so  blend  it  with  the 
stream  and  current  of  our  consciousness,  that  in 
yielding  obedience  to  his  word,  we  are  only  obeying 
the  actings  and  impulses  of  our  own  minds.  Hence 
the  language  of  conscious  authority,  and  efficient 
power,  which  he  employed  in  relation  to  the  conver¬ 
sion  of  the  Gentiles:  “Other  sheep  I  have,  which, 
are  not  of  this  fold,  them  also  I  must  bring  and  they 
shallhear  my  voice  ;  and  there  shall  be  one  fold  and 
one  shepherd.”  Hence  too,  he  could  say  to  whom 
he  chose,  “  Follow  me  and  the  individual  address¬ 
ed  “  arose  and  followed  him.”  At  this  disenchanting 
command,  the  spirit  of  the  world  lied  from  the 
heart ;  the  thousand  ties  which  bound  it  to  the  earth 
were  snapped  asunder ;  and  the  man  suddenly  found 
himself  emancipated,  and  walking  in  the  Saviour’s 
train.  The  omnipotent  effect  with  which  he  spoke 
to  the  tempestuous  elements,  and  to  demons  more 
fierce  and  fearful  than  they,  was  only  a  type  and 
pledge  of  his  unlimited  power  over  the  mind  of 
man.  lie  speaks,  and  it  is  done  ;  his  people  are 
“  made  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power.” 

But  of  all  his  displays  of  authority,  his  forgivness 
of  sin  is  immeasurably  the  greatest.  This,  accord¬ 
ing  to  human  conceptions,  is  the  highest  and  utter¬ 
most  prerogative  of  the  Supreme.  It  is  to  ascend  a 
throne  above  the  lawgiver,  and  to  silence  his  voice, 
and  suspend  his  functions,  for  a  reason  paramount  to 
all  law  and  more  comprehensive.  It  is  to  overrule 
the  claims  of  justice,  and  stopping  it  in  its  full  ca¬ 
reer  towards  the  sinner,  to  exhibit  a  reason  for  mer¬ 
cy,  to  which  justice  bows  with  reverence,  and  before 
which  it  retires.  Law,  the  dictate  of  infinite  wis¬ 
dom,  is  the  rule  by  which  man  is  to  act  towards 
God  ;  but  forgiveness  is  a  dispensation,  a  reason,  is- 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


73 


suing  from  a  deeper  recess  of  his  mysterious  nature, 
and  by  which  he  chooses  to  act  towards  us.  But  this 
prerogative,  essentially  divine,  this  high  and  incom¬ 
municable  right,  Jesus  exercised,  and  vindicated  his 
competence  to  do  so.  “  Son,”  said  he  to  the  para¬ 
lytic  man,  “  be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sms  are  forgiven 
thee :  and,  behold,  some  of  the  scribes  said  within 
themselves,  Why  doth  he  thus  speak  blasphemies? 
who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ?  But  Jesus 
knowing  their  thoughts,  said,  Why  do  ye  think  evil 
in  your  hearts?  For  which  is  easier,  to  say,  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven ;  or  to  say,  Arise  and  walk  ?  But 
that  ye  may  know  the  Son  of  man  upon  earth  hath 
a  right  to  forgive  sins,  (he  saitli  to  the  paralytic,) 
Arise,  take  up  thy  couch,  and  go  to  thy  house.” 
Thus,  forestalling  the  functions  of  the  last  day,  he 
remitted  the  claim  of  justice  on  a  sinful  being ; 
erased  his  guilt  from  the  book  of  God ;  changed  the 
relations  of  an  accountable  creature  to  the  Supreme 
Governor ;  and,  in  effect,  asserted  that  he  possessed 
the  power  of  taking  from  the  inmost  soul  the  sting  of 
conscious  guilt.  While,  by  declaring  that  he  retain¬ 
ed  this  power,  though  he  was  then  the  Son  of  man 
upon  earth ,  he  carries  our  thoughts  to  the  state 
whence  he  had  descended,  and  reminds  us  that  no 
distance  from  his  throne  above,  no  depth  of  humilia¬ 
tion  to  which  he  might  condescend,  can  deprive  him 
of  his  right  to  pardon ;  that  as  it  is  exclusively,  so  it 
is  inalienably  divine  ;  and  that  he  is  therefore  free  to 
use  it  as  God,  though  for  a  time  he  may  choose  to 
rank  as  the  Son  of  man. 

Preceding  prophets,  jealous  for  the  divine  honor, 
had  scrupulously  guarded  against  the  remotest  suspi¬ 
cion  that  they  spake  in  their  own  name ;  they  dis¬ 
tinctly  expressed  their  delegated  capacity,  and  per¬ 
petually  appealed  to  the  authority  which  sent  them. 
But  Jesus,  we  have  seen,  without  any  modification  or 
reserve,  employed  the  language  of  supreme  personal 
authority.  Me  did  not,  indeed,  in  any  way  impart 
the  impression  of  an  interest,  or  even  an  existence, 
7 


74 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


detached  from  the  Father.  The  authority  by  which 
he  spoke,  though  expressly  his  own,  was,  by  identity 
of  nature,  the  authority  of  the  Father  also.  As  often 
as  he  exercised  the  functions  of  the  legislator,  he 
placed  himself,  if  I  may  say  so,  on  alevel,  and  in  a  line, 
with  the  eternal  throne  ;  so  that  its  glory  tell  directly 
upon  him,  and  by  him  was  again  reflected  back,  min¬ 
gled  with  the  lustre  of  his  own  greatness.  While  he 
stood  forth  distinctly  in  his  own  personality,  and  ad¬ 
dressed  us  in  his  own  name,  he  stood  in  so  perfect  a 
conjunction  with  the  Deity,  and  so  far  within  the 
borders  of  the  encircling  light,  that  his  voice  came 
with  the  authority  of  an  oracle  from  the  central  glo¬ 
ry.  “  Glorify  thy  Son,  that  thy  Son  also  may  glorify 
thee.  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  is  in  me. 
No  man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  neither 
knoweth  any  man  the  Son  but  the  Father.  Whatso¬ 
ever  things  the  Father  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the 
Son  likewise.  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father  also.  I  and  my  Father  are  one.” 

In  closing  our  illustrations  of  the  authority  of  the 
Saviour’s  teaching,  it  may  not  be  irrelevant  briefly  to 
remark,  that  not  only  was  that  authority  exempt  from 
those  deductions  to  which  the  force  of  mere  human 
instruction  is  liable,  but  that  it  must  have  been  great¬ 
ly  augmented  by  every  consideration  of  an  opposite 
kind. 

Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  fatal  to  the  power 
of  a  public  teacher,  than  a  lurking  suspicion,  a  secret 
misgiving  of  the  truth,  the  value  or  consistency  of 
his  doctrine.  In  such  a  case,  the  mind  may  be  said 
to  have  lost  its  power  of  projection,  its  professed  aim 
will  not  be  reached.  Any  thing  short  of  full  con¬ 
viction  will  betray  itself  to  his  audience,  in  a  way  in¬ 
viting  their  suspicion,  and  creating  disbelief.  Equally 
unfriendly  to  the  weight  of  his  instructions,  is  a  con¬ 
scious  inability  to  refer  them  to  those  first  principles 
from  which  they  derive  their  authority ;  a  want  of 
cordial  sympathy  with  their  practical  influence ;  a 
sense  of  discordance  between  that  influence  and  his 


HIS  AUTHORITY.  75 

present  conduct;  a  painful  uncertainty  concerning 
their  success ;  or,  lastly,  a  doubt  of  his  own  eligibility 
and  right  to  the  office  of  teacher. 

Now,  not  merely  was  the  Saviour  exempt,  by  ne¬ 
cessity  of  nature,  from  each  of  these  foes  to  authori¬ 
tative  teaching ;  the  mount  from  which  he  sometimes 
taught,  was  only  an  emblem  of  the  moral  elevation 
on  which  he  always  stood,  where  every  thing  was 
present  to  augfnent  the  pervading  power  of  his 
preaching,  and  from  whence  he  spoke  with  an  au¬ 
thority  exclusively  his  own.  To  convince  the  incre¬ 
dulity  of  others  that  he  came  from  God,  he  often  re¬ 
ferred  to  his  being  heralded  by  John  ;  to  his  an¬ 
nouncement  by  the  voice  from  the  excellent  glory ; 
and  to  his  affluence  in  divine  qualifications  and  mi¬ 
raculous  powers.  For  himself,  he  cotdd  not  have 
felt  a  stronger  assurance  of  the  fact,  had  all  the  hei- 
rarchies  and  state  of  heaven,  constantly  and  visibly 
stood  around  him,  an  amphitheatre  of  living  glory,  to 
corroborate  his  mission,  and  authenticate  every  sen¬ 
tence  he  uttered. 

So  perfect  was  his  example,  that  had  it  been  pos¬ 
sible  for  the  least  inconsistency  to  have  existed  be¬ 
tween  his  instructions  and  his  life,  we  should,  with¬ 
out  hesitation,  have  sought  the  defect  in  his  teaching. 
But  such  a  discrepancy  was  impossible.  In  every 
precept  he  taught,  he  felt  that  he  was  only  expound¬ 
ing  his  own  life,  reading  from  the  holy  volume  of  his 
own  heart.  Virtue  found  itself  re-assured  in  his 
presence  ;  and,  having  imbibed  courage  and  strength 
from  his  looks,  went  to  complete  the  conquest  of  sin. 
Instead  of  pointing  his  hearers  to  the  tables  of  stone, 
lie  could  invite  them  to  learn  of  him ;  and  the  holy 
law  rejoiced  the  while  in  its  living  representative. 
He  could  look  round  on  a  nation  of  witnesses,  and 
say,  “which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin  ?”  with  the 
certainty  that  the  challenge  could  not  be  accepted. 
But  what  amazing  weight  must  this  consideration 
have  lent  to  his  instructions,  what  power  to  his  re¬ 
bukes,  what  authority  and  force  to  his  commands ! 


76 


TIIE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Truth  never  languished  on  his  lips,  never  suffered  in 
his  hands,  from  want  of  sympathy  in  its  advocate. 
“To  this  end  was  I  horn,”  said  he,  “and  for  this 
cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  wit¬ 
ness  unto  the  truth.”  And  as  often  as  it  issued  from 
his  tongue,  it  came  with  the  freshness  of  a  new  rev¬ 
elation  ;  was  announced  with  an  earnestness  com¬ 
mensurate  with  its  intrinsic  importance,  and  with  the 
momentous  results  depending  on  its  success ;  and 
was  defended  with  the  devotedness  and  zeal  of  a 
champion  prepared  to  die  in  its  behalf. 

Such  is  the  present  limitation  of  our  knowledge, 
and  our  constant  liability  to  err,  that  diffidence  in  the 
announcement  of  our  opinions  is  accounted  a  virtue. 
But  he,  who  came  forth  from  God  to  he  the  light  of 
the  world,  spoke  on  every  subject  with  the  unfalter¬ 
ing  assurance  of  certain  knowledge.  To  him,  truth, 
all  truth  was,  in  a  sense,  ever  present  and  self-evi¬ 
dent.  Properly  speaking,  he  uttered  no  mere  senti¬ 
ments,  notions,  or  opinions,  but  only  truths.  He  did 
not  speak  on  probability  and  credit ;  his  assertions 
were  sustained  on  ultimate  principles  and  personal 
knowledge.  He  saw,  intuitively,  that  whatever  was 
opposed  to  his  doctrine,  however  plausible  as  conjec¬ 
ture,  or  deeply  rooted  in  the  popular  faith,  was  de¬ 
lusion  and  falsehood.  “  Every  one  that  is  of  the 
truth,”  said  he,  “  heareth  my  voice.”  And  not  only 
was  he  assured  of  the  particular  doctrine,  he  was 
perfectly  acquainted  with  the  general  principle 
whence  it  drew  its  authority,  and  with  the  un¬ 
changeable  position  that  principle  holds  in  the  system 
of  universal  truth.  Having  stood  in  the  council  of 
God,  having  dwelt  in  the  penetralia,  the  innermost 
recesses  of  the  eternal  sanctuary,  the  elements  and 
originals  of  all  truth  were  familiarly  present  to  his 
mind.  Of  his  sublimest  supernatural  disclosures  he 
averred,  that  lie  was  speaking  that  which  he  knew, 
and  testifying  that  which  he  had  seen.  He  came 
forth  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  as  the  Word,  the 
revealer  of  that  infinite  mind  in  which,  from  eternity, 


HIS  AUTHORITY. 


77 


lie  had  surveyed  the  archetype  and  idea  of  all  truth ; 
and  he  spoke  with  the  authority  of  a  divine  oracle. 

But,  besides  the  consciousness  that  he  was  the 
Word  and  the  Wisdom  of  God,  his  discourses  must 
have  derived  an  accession  of  power  from  the  knowl¬ 
edge  that  he  was  unfolding  truth  of  the  highest  or¬ 
der — the  words  of  eternal  life.  Science  of  all  kinds 
is  distinction  and  power ;  and  he  who  imparts  it  is  a 
benefactor  to  his  species  :  but  the  knowledge  which 
Jesus  came  to  unfold  was  emphatically  the  gospel ; 
truth  which  God  deems  important,  which  had  been 
revolved  from  eternity  in  his  infinite  mind,  which  en¬ 
ters  into  liis  purposes  and  involves  his  glory ;  a  rev¬ 
elation  so  essential  to  our  well-being,  and  every  way 
so  momentous,  that  it  not  only  disdains  comparison 
with  the  discoveries  of  man,  but  engrossing  to  itself 
the  undivided  attention  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God,  would  have  held  its  majesty  debased  had  it  been 
mingled,  even  on  his  hallowed  lips,  with  the  meaner 
topics  of  human  science.  His  mission  contemplated 
our  race,  as  immortal  beings  laboring  under  the  frown 
of  incensed  justice;  and  standing  ignorant,  helpless, 
and  exposed,  on  the  verge  of  a  gulph  of  irretrievable 
ruin.  Alive  to  all  the  horrors  of  our  condition,  he 
came  with  the  message  and  means  of  deliverance  ;  he 
brought  from  heaven  an  express  assurance  ot  com¬ 
plete  relief.  Other  knowledge  may  be  acquired  by 
ordinary  means,  its  worth  may  be  computed,  it  may 
be  dispensed  with  altogether  ;  but  the  way  of  salva¬ 
tion  could  only  be  made  known  by  God  himself:  while 
its  utter  indispensableness  and  infinite  value  appear 
from  the  fact,  that  we  must  have  it  or  perish.  “  I  am 
come,”  said  Christ,  “  a  light  into  the  world  and,  as 
he  ascended  the  firmament  of  truth,  he  shone  with 
the  sublime  consciousness,  that,  were  he  to  withdraw 
its  beams  and  retire,  the  world  would  be  immersed  in 
eternal  night ;  but  that  as  many  as  should  walk  in  his 
light,  would  be  brought  from  the  darkness  and  dis¬ 
tance  of  sin,  into  the  immediate  vision  and  fruition  ot 
God.  He  could  stand  forth  and  challenge  the  pro- 
7# 


78 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


found  attention  of  the  world,  with  the  full  conviction 
that  he  was  not  only  the  greatest  benefactor  it  would 
ever  behold,  but  that  he  combined  within  himself  all 
the  several  qualities  of  beneficence  to  be  found  in  the 
universe  ;  for  he  felt  that,  in  imparting  the  gospel,  lie 
was  pouring  out  the  resources  of  heaven,  and  confer¬ 
ring  an  antidote  for  all  the  miseries  of  mankind. 

Add  to  this,  the  Son  of  God  was  perfectly  exempt 
from  the  chilling  perception  that  his  motives  were 
alloyed.  It  was  peculiar  to  him,  of  all  born  of 
women,  to  be  entirely  free  from  the  taint  of  selfish¬ 
ness.  “  He  pleased  not  himself.”  The  whole  of  his 
course  was  a  history  of  pure  disinterested  benevo¬ 
lence.  He  had  assumed  our  nature  for  no  other  pur¬ 
pose  than  to  display  the  glory  of  God  in  the  happi¬ 
ness  of  man ;  and  for  this  end  he  breathed  out 
his  life.  When  uttering  bis  largest  professions  of 
sympathy  and  love,  he  rejoiced  in  the  secret  conscious¬ 
ness  that  he  intended  to  do  abundantly  more  than 
lie  had  said  ;  that,  besides  the  stream  of  goodness  and 
truth  which  issued  daily  from  his  lips,  lie  held  within 
his  heart  a  fountain  of  compassion,  clear  as  crystal,  as 
yet  untouched;  but  which,  at  the  appointed  hour, 
would  issue  forth,  far  exceeding  expectation,  and 
blessing  the  world. 

And  beyond  all  this,  what  must  have  imparted  vig¬ 
or  to  the  tone  of  his  teaching,  was  the  unclouded 
prospect  which  he  enjoyed  of  its  ultimate  and  uni¬ 
versal  success.  “  This  gospel,”  he  could  say,  “  shall 
be  preached  for  a  witness  among  all  nations.”  In  its 
immediate  results,  indeed,  it  but  too  fully  realized  the 
representation  of  the  sower,  that  went  forth  to  sow. 
But  he  clearly  foresaw  that  the  incorruptible  seed  of 
bis  word,  though  for  a  time  it  might  seem  to  be  lost, 
was  destined  again  to  spring  out  of  the  earth,  pro¬ 
ducing  a  harvest  of  holiness  for  heaven.  In  praying 
that  his  church  might  be  sanctified  by  the  truth,  he 
felt  that  he  was  praying  with  the  force  of  an  almighty 
decree  ;  that,  in  the  divine  intention,  his  prayer  was 
answered  as  soon  as  uttered  ;  while  he  beheld,  in  an- 


HIS  AUTHORITV. 


79 


ticipation,  a  host  which  no  one  could  number,  already 
encircling  the  throne  above,  robed  in  the  purity  his 
prayer  desired.  A  part  of  the  joy  which  was  set  be¬ 
fore  him,  consisted  in  the  distinct  perception  of  a 
scene,  in  which  his  truth,  armed  with  the  Omnipo¬ 
tence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  having  completed  the  con¬ 
quest  of  error,  given  new  law  to  the  world,  and  im¬ 
pressed  her  image  on  every  thing  human,  was  receiv¬ 
ing  the  homage  of  a  renovated  race,  and  reigning  in 
the  new  heavens,  and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness. 

Recollecting  that  causes  such  as  these  concurred 
in  the  teaching  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  bearing  in 
mind  the  specimens  we  have  adduced  from  his  di¬ 
vine  discourses,  we  are  fully  prepared  to  hear  it  tes¬ 
tified,  that  “  the  people  were  astonished  at  his  doc¬ 
trine  and  that,  “  when  Jesus  had  ended  these  say¬ 
ings,  the  people  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine  ;  for 
he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the 
scribes.”  Their  established  teachers,  having  long 
since  completed  the  conquest  of  common  sense,  la¬ 
bored  to  preserve  the  fruits  of  their  victory,  by  the 
endless  repetition  of  fables  and  childish  traditions. 
The  loftiest  models  of  public  instruction  with  which 
they  were  acquainted,  consisted  in  the  heartless  rc- 
citement  of  frivolous  opinions  and  trivial  ceremonies, 
confirmed  by  quotations  more  jejime  and  frivolous 
still ;  the  very  essence  of  insipidity.  What  then  must 
have  been  the  astonishment  and  involuntary  homage 
with  which  they  listened  to  the  discourses  of  the  Son 
of  God.  It  was  an  era  in  the  history  of  their  minds. 
In  their  opinion-,  he  spake,  as  never  man  spake.  For, 
besides  that  he  addressed  them  in  his  own  name,  as 
the  highest  authority,  he  laid  open  scenes  the  most 
novel,  and  subjects  the  most  momentous;  carried 
his  appeals  into  their  conscience ;  made  them  once 
more  feel  that  they  were  immortal  men ;  stripped 
off  every  mask,  and  conveyed  them,  with  their  sins 
upon  them,  to  the  throne  of  God ;  annihilated  the 
distance  between  them  and  the  judgment  day ; 


80 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


threshold  of  the  infinite  and  everlasting  ;  and  effaced 
the  recollections  of  the  present,  by  the  absorbing  re¬ 
alities  of  the  eternal  future.  Some  hailed  his  preach¬ 
ing  as  a  new  and  glorious  light,  while  others  shunned 
it  as  the  forked  and  fatal  lightning ;  each  class  bear¬ 
ing  involuntary  testimony  to  its  commanding  power. 
And,  associated,  as  it  naturally  woidd  be  in  their 
minds,  with  the  recollection  of  his  miraculous  deeds  ; 
remembering  that  the  demons  had  quailed,  and  the 
tempestuous  ocean  grown  quiet  in  the  presence  in 
which  they  were  standing  ;  that  the  whirlwind  had 
revered  the  voice  to  which  they  were  listening ; 
they  could  not  but  tacitly  confess  that  he  spoke  with 
an  authority  which,  if  the  sun  were  extinguished, 
might  say,  “  Let  there  be  light,”  and  light  would  be. 

In  concluding  an  essay,  already,  I  fear,  too  much 
prolonged,  the  reader  will  allow  me  to  suggest  its 
practical  application.  Whatever  may  be  the  charac¬ 
teristics  of  a  perfect  instructor,  he  is  entitled  to  look 
for  the  counterpart  of  each  in  those  he  addresses. 
The  authority,  then,  which  distinguishes  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  Christ  should  be  met,  by  his  disciples,  with 
submission  and  acquiescence.  It  is  obvious  to  all, 
that  the  mental  impression  received  from  any  ob¬ 
ject,  depends  materially  on  the  state  of  the  mind 
itself.  “  If  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  God,”  said 
Jesus,  “  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be 
of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself.”  His  gospel 
is  addressed  to  our  moral  nature  ;  and  the  only  mind 
in  a  state  to  do  justice  to  the  divinity  of  its  claims,  is 
that  which  is  trained  and  disciplined  to  habits  of  holy 
obedience.  If  we  take  to  it  a  spirit  which  it  does  not 
approve,  we  are  likely  to  bring  from  it  a  spirit  which  it 
has  not  imparted.  Even  the  ancient  heathens,  when 
they  went  to  consult  their  idol  gods,  did  not  expect 
to  succeed  without  due  preparation.  Their  approach¬ 
es  were  marked  by  acts  of  reverence  and  self-purifi¬ 
cation.  Before  they  hoped  for  the  least  oracular  inti¬ 
mation,  days  were  consumed  in  sacrifice,  ablution, 
and  meditation.  They  did  not  degrade  even  their 


HIS  AUTHORITV. 


81 


false  deities,  by  supposing  they  would  speak  in  the 
ear  of  levity,  or  waste  instruction  on  an  irreverent 
and  polluted  mind.  Were  we  creatures  devoid  of  a 
moral  nature,  or  did  the  gospel  address  the  under¬ 
standing  alone,  we  might  then  approach  it  as  we  go  to 
the  study  of  a  mathematical  truth,  as  beings  of  intellect 
only  ;  but  its  aim  is  the  heart ;  it  is  addressed  to  our 
moral  nature  ;  and  as  such,  it  claims  a  free  and  un¬ 
disputed  ingress  to  the  throne  of  the  will.  If  it  flat¬ 
tered  our  importance  by  submitting  its  truths  to  the 
tribunal  of  reason,  pride  would  then  be  no  unsuitable 
preparation  for  receiving  it ;  but,  taking  for  granted 
our  moral  disqualification,  it  “  casts  down  imagina¬ 
tions,  and  every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against 
the  knowledge  of  God,  and  brings  into  captivity 
every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ.”  Proceed¬ 
ing  on  the  supposition,  that  it  is  the  heart  which  in 
its  fall  has  dragged  down  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  it 
proposes  to  erect  them  again,  by  raising  and  restoring 
the  degrading  cause  ;  it  requires,  therefore,  that  in 
the  process  they  be  submissive  and  silent.  If  we 
would  learn  of  Christ,  the  soul  must  be  vacated  of 
all  its  proud  prepossessions,  that  there  may  be  room 
to  prepare  him  a  seat  in  the  will.  If  we  would  listen 
to  his  voice  with  effect.,  there  must  be  silence  in  the 
soul :  the  clamorous  pretentions  of  self-sufficiency 
must  be  rebuked ;  and,  putting  on  the  robe  of  humil¬ 
ity,  we  must  take  our  station  as  children  at  his  feet. 

But  that  submission  to  the  authority  of  Christ, 
which  forms  an  essential  .qualification  in  his  disci¬ 
ples,  is  not  only  opposed  to  the  pride  that  rejects  ;  it 
is  intelligent  and  conscious,  and  therefore  equally  re¬ 
mote  from  that  unheeding  acquiescence  which  ad¬ 
mits  with  a  fatal  facility,  and  as  a  matter  of  custom 
and  course,  whatever  he  inculcates :  if  the  former  of 
these  is  the  disqualification  of  rebellion,  the  latter  is 
the  incapacity  of  death.  Perhaps  no  greater  obstacle 
can  be  named,  to  the  proper  reception  of  the  gospel, 
than  the  error,  alas  !  how  common,  of  placing  reli¬ 
gion  in  a  bare  assent  to  its  truths;  of  cherishing  a  set- 


82  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

tied  and  satisfied  persuasion  that  we  are  Christians, 
simply  because  we  subscribe,  and  in  proportion  to 
the  unthinking  readiness  with  which  we  subscribe 
to  its  dictates.  So  effectually  does  this  delusion  en¬ 
close  and  encase  the  heart,  that  “  the  arrows  of  the 
Lord,”  though  barbed  and  winged  by  an  angel’s  hand, 
would  fail  to  “  stick  fast  in  it.”  So  potent  is  the  spell, 
that  it  enables  us  to  listen,  not  only  to  truths  the  most 
pungent,  but  even  to  the  description  which  portrays 
the  very  delusion  itself,  without  any  self-application 
or  effect.  With  such  certainty  does  it  turn  aside  and 
ward  off  every  salutary  impression,  that,  like  a  build¬ 
ing  defended  from  the  lightnings  of  heaven  by  a  rod 
of  steel,  we  can  venture  amongst  the  forked  lightnings 
of  truth,  and  yet  come  out  free  from  the  fire,  unscath¬ 
ed,  and  untouched.  On  such  a  state  of  mind  the 
voice  of  the  Great  Teacher  himself- — its  loudest,  its 
most  solemn  and  authoritative  tones — are  dissipated 
and  lost. 

The  submission,  then,  which  he  demands,  is  that 
which  arises  from  conviction,  and  consists  in  the  self¬ 
surrender  of  the  will ;  that  which,  while  it  admits,  at 
the  same  time  “  trembles  at  his  word.”  But  where  is 
this  preparation  to  be  obtained  ?  where,  but  at  the 
throne  of  the  heavenly  grace.  It  is  only  at  the  altar, 
and  from  the  hand  of  God,  we  can  receive  that  ce¬ 
lestial  torch,  which  reveals  at  once  our  own  incom¬ 
petence,  and  the  dignity  and  glory  of  Christ.  That 
is  the  appointed  place  of  meeting  between  God  and 
the  soul,  where  he  puts  us  under  the  guidance  of 
that  holy  spirit,  who  leads  us  into  all  truth  ;  who 
takes  the  things  of  Christ  as  they  fall  from  his  lips, 
and  conveys  them  as  living  powers  into  the  obedi¬ 
ent  heart:  who  prepares  and  delivers  us  into  the 
mould  of  the  gospel,  that  we  may  take  the  perfect 
impress  of  its  author. 


ESSAY  II. 


ON  THE  ORIGINALITY  OF  OUR  LORD’S  TEACHING. 


SECTION  I. - OF  GOD  THE  FATHER. 

“  Never  man  spake  like  111  is  man.” 

“No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him.” 


In  illustrating  the  originality  which  marked  the  in¬ 
structions  of  our  blessed  Lord,  it  can  scarcely  be 
necessary  to  premise,  that,  as  the  mode  of  his  teach¬ 
ing  will  receive  our  separate  consideration,  we  shall 
now  confine  ourselves  to  its  subjects. 

Were  we  claiming  the  attribute  of  originality  for 
an  uninspired  mind,  we  should  feel  as  if  we  were  es¬ 
tablishing  his  right  to  fame.  For  he  who  enlarges, 
in  the  least,  the  narrow  confines  of  human  knowl¬ 
edge,  is  said  to  confer  imperishable  wealth ;  to  re¬ 
deem  our  mental  character ;  and  thus,  owing  to  the 
unfrequency  of  the  occurrence,  he  renders  himself 
an  object  of  homage  to  the  species.  But  this  is  a  qual¬ 
ity,  which,  abstractedly  considered,  has  no  moral 
character  ;  it  is  a  blessing  or  a  curse,  only  according 
to  the  direction  which  it  takes,  and  the  service  in 
which  it  is  engaged. 

As  the  ultimate  object  of  our  Lord’s  teaching,  was 
of  a  nature  entirely  practical,  it  requires  but  little  ef¬ 
fort  of  the  imagination  to  conceive  why,  if  his  praise 
consists,  partly,  in  being  so  original,  it  consists  also, 
partly,  in  not  being  more  original  than  he  is.  “  If  I 
have  told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how 
shall  ye  believe  if  1  tell  you  heavenly  things  ?”  He 
could  unquestionably  have  made  disclosures  which 
would  have  eclipsed,  and  consigned  to  oblivion,  all 
prior  discoveries.  As  far  as  power  is  concerned,  he 
could  easily  have  embroiled  the  polemic  world,  by 


84  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

mystifying  without  misrepresenting,  every  subject  of 
earthly  dispute.  He  coidd  have  uttered  a  single  sen¬ 
tence,  which,  by  furnishing  a  key  to  many  a  mystery, 
and  affording  a  glimpse  of  arcana  before  unknown, 
would  have  collected  and  concentrated  around  it  the 
busy  thoughts  of  each  successive  generation  to  the 
close  of  time.*  Opening  one  of  the  numerous  doors 
at  which  human  curiosity  has  been  knocking  impa¬ 
tiently  for  ages,  he  could  have  admitted  men  to  a 
tree  of  knowledge,  from  which,  age  after  age,  they 
would  have  continued  to  pluck  and  partake,  until  the 
trump  of  God  surprised  them  at  their  unholy  feast, 
and  found  them  unprepared  lor  the  summons.  But 
he  came  to  plant  for  them  the  tree  of  life,  and  to  give 
them  access  to  its  healing  fruits.  And  as  he  allowed 
nothing  to  divert  his  own  attention  from  the  accom¬ 
plishment  of  this  object,  he  guarded  against  every 
thing  likely  to  beguile  them  from  seeking  the  benefit 
resulting  from  it.  He  disdained  not  the  repetition  of 
old  and  familiar  truths,  provided  his  introduction  of 
them  would  subserve  his  grand  design  ;  for  though 
he  proposed  to  erect  a  second  temple  of  truth,  the 
glory  of  which  should  eclipse  the  splendor  of  the 
first,  he  deigned  to  appropriate  whatever  of  the  an¬ 
cient  materials  remained  available.  Truths,  which 
the  lapse  of  time  had  seen  displaced  and  disconnect¬ 
ed  from  their  true  position,  as  stars  are  said  to  have 
wandered  from  their  primal  signs,  he  recalled  and 
established  anew  ;  and  principles,  which  had  faded, 
disappeared,  and  been  lost,  as  stars  are  said  to  have 
become  extinct,  he  rekindled  and  resphered,  and 
commanded  them  to  stand  fast  forever.  Such,  for 
instance,  was  the  golden  law  of  wedded  love ; 
which,  though  coeval  with  paradise,  and  the  crown 
of  its  joys,  had  been  partially  remitted  by  divine  suf¬ 
ferance,  and  reduced  to  a  name  by  human  depravity, 
but  which  he  restored  and  republished  as  of  divine 
and  indissoluble  obligation. 

The  power  of  recasting  important  truths  from 
their  old  and  worn-out  forms,  and  of  giving  them  to 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


85 


the  world  again  with  all  their  original  freshness  and 
force,  is  the  peculiar  perogative  of  genius;  but, 
though  our  Lord  must  be  supposed  to  have  possess¬ 
ed  this  power  in  perfection,  he  did  not  exercise  it  for 
its  own  sake.  An  acquaintance  with  the  origin  of 
some  of  his  parables,  liis  prayers,  and  many  of  his 
most  familiar  sayings,  will  show  that  he  often  conde¬ 
scended  to  adopt  the  beauties  of  the  Talmud,  which 
were  then  “  floating  on  the  lips  of  the  wise,”  as  well 
as  the  popular  proverbs  of  the  day,  and  to  insert 
them  into  his  own  instructions.  But  this  by  no  means 
impairs  his  claim  to  originality  of  the  loftiest  kind. 
Intellect  of  the  highest  earthly  order,  though  aware 
that  its  claims  to  renown  depended  chiefly  on  the  ex¬ 
ercise  of  its  own  creative  powers,  has  not  feared  the 
forfeiture  of  those  claims  for  borrowing  the  produc¬ 
tions  of  inferior  minds :  it  was  conscious  of  a  power 
of  falling  back,  at  pleasure,  on  its  own  resources, 
and  of  being  ably  sustained.  Then  how  much  more 
might  he  do  the  same ;  He,  to  whom  all  human 
thought  is  but  one  idea ;  and  that  only  a  fractional 
part  of  the  infinite  whole  which  his  mind  compre¬ 
hends.  He,  who  in  his  pre-existent  state,  had  not  re¬ 
fused  to  predicate  of  his  divine  nature  the  parts  and 
passions  of  poor  humanity,  though  at  the  hazard  of 
riiaterializing  his  pure  spirituality  in  the  crude  con¬ 
ceptions  of  human  ignorance  ;  he  who  had  proceed¬ 
ed  even  to  assume  that  humanity,  the  mere  figurative 
assumption  of  which  was  an  infinite  condescension, 
might  surely  be  spared  the  necessity  of  a  defense, 
for  the  occasional  appropriation  of  human  thoughts. 
If  his  assumption  of  our  nature  was  an  infinite  stoop 
of  grace  demanding  our  adoration,  his  adoption  of 
any  of  our  thoughts  (though  not  to  be  named  as  a 
comparison)  was  only  an  adjunct  and  continuation  of 
that  grace. 

Besides,  this  probably  is  only  to  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  numerous  methods  by  which  he  was  con¬ 
stantly  aiming  to  lessen  the  impression  which  must 
have  frequently  returned  on  his  hearers — as  far  as 
8 


86  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

that  impression  was  likely  to  interfere  with  his  use¬ 
fulness — of  his  mysterious  and  incomprehensible 
character.  He  knew,  with  a  perfection  of  knowl¬ 
edge,  that  as  the  great  and  beneficent  operations  of 
nature  are  produced,  not  by  abrupt  and  extraordi¬ 
nary  interpositions,  but  by  the  calm  and  regular 
movements  of  its  appointed  laws  ;  so,  ordinarily,  a 
method  of  instruction,  which  violates  the  sanctuary 
of  our  settled  associations,  though  it  may  startle,  and 
astonish,  and  even  fill  with  wonder  for  the  moment, 
is  far  from  friendly  to  the  lasting  conviction  and 
future  improvement  of  the  mind ;  and,  therefore,  he 
disturbed  their  accustomed  trains  of  thought  as  little 
as  was  consistent  with  the  introduction  of  a  reno¬ 
vating  power,  a  new  and  transforming  economy  of 
truth.  He  sought  access  to  their  minds,  by  the  beat¬ 
en  pathway  of  their  most  familiar  associations  ;  he 
insinuated  and  intertwined  his  divine  instruction 
with  the  network  of  their  most  hallowed  recollec¬ 
tions  and  sympathies ;  thus  providing  for  it  the 
easiest  mode  of  admission  into  their  hearts,  and 
making  them  feel  that  his  identification  with  their 
nature  and  interest  was  complete.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  whatever  of  their  most  popular  and  admired 
lore  he  condescended  to  employ,  he  gave  them  an 
opportunity  of  marking  his  superiority  to  the  most 
approved  and  honored  of  their  rabbinical  teachers ; 
for,  however  great  its  original  excellences  might 
have  been  considered,  it  came  from  his  hands  beau¬ 
tified  with  a  simplicity,  dignified  with  a  power,  and 
invested  with  attractions  unknown  to  it  before. 

In  order  that  he  might  obtain  admission  through 
the  common  avenue  of  our  sympathies,  and  build 
himself  a  home  in  our  hearts,  he  drew  his  images 
and  illustrations  from  the  great  treasury  of  our  house¬ 
hold  affections,  and  from  the  most  familiar  features 
of  nature.  But  the  lily  of  the  field ,  as  plucked  by  his 
hand,  has  the  freshness  of  the  morning,  and  the  dew 
upon  it ;  and  the  homeliest  fact,  as  unfolded  by  him, 
is  found  to  contain  the  most  treasured  truths.  Thus, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


87 


by  deriving  his  illustrations  from  humble  sources,  he 
not  only  avoided  taking  our  feelings  by  surprise,  he 
showed  us  how  all  unperverted  knowledge  tends 
towards  heaven  by  a  law,  and  how  all  unsophisti¬ 
cated  nature,  rightly  construed,  is  only  an  expanded 
page  of  holy  writ ;  how  every  part  of  Eden  and  of 
earth  must  have  teemed,  and  been  vocal,  with  wis¬ 
dom  to  the  attentive  ear  of  unfallen  man  ;  and  how, 
to  the  mind  which  mirrors  and  reflects  the  lines  and 
aspects  of  nature,  truth  may  still  be  said  to  spring  out 
of  the  earth. 

But,  though  we  could  not  have  passed  entirely 
unnoticed  the  circumstantial  originality  of  the  Sav¬ 
iour’s  teaching,  it  is  time  to  show  that  his  claim  to 
this  quality  arises  from  merits  peculiarly  his  own  ; 
from  additional  revelations,  and  momentous  disclos¬ 
ures  of  divine  truth.  Had  he  only  commented  on 
the  volume  of  nature,  had  he  even  read  from  the 
book  of  the  universe  the  names  and  titles  of  its  au¬ 
thor,  our  advantage  comparatively,  would  have  been 
small  indeed.  That  volume  was  originally  meant 
only  for  the  eye  of  sinless  humanity.  It  uttered  no 
prediction,  awoke  no  presentiment  of  the  fall ;  in  no 
part  of  its  hallowed  contents  could  a  line  be  found 
foretokening  woe.  The  morning  of  the  day  of  trans¬ 
gression  dawned  on  the  world,  unconscious  of  the 
impending  change.  The  sun  poured  forth  as  full  a 
flood  of  living  light ;  the  air  was  as  rich  in  fragrance 
and  song  ;  earth  and  heaven  appeared  to  live  in  each 
other’s  smiles  ;  nature  lay  open  at  as  fair  and  bright 
a  page,  as  at  the  moment  when  God  complacently 
pronounced  it  to  be  very  good.  The  tremendous  ca¬ 
tastrophe  of  that  day  took  it  by  surprise.  So  far 
from  furnishing  man  with  resources  for  the  event,  it 
was  itself  involved  in  the  calamity ;  it  was  “  cursed 
for  his  sake.”  So  far  from  being  able  to  utter  a  con¬ 
solatory  truth  in  human  ears,  it  required  itself  to  be 
solaced  and  sustained,  for  it  lay  prostrate  and  pant¬ 
ing  under  its  Maker’s  frown.  Wounded  by  the 
stroke,  and  cumbered  with  the  weight  of  sin,  it  sent 


88  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

forth  a  cry,  in  which  all  its  natural  harmonies  were 
drowned ;  a  cry  of  helplessness  and  of  suffering, 
which  has  never  from  that  moment  ceased,  but  which 
has  gone  on,  from  age  to  age,  waxing  louder  and 
louder,  till  the  whole  creation  has  become  vocal  with 
woe,  “  and  groaneth  and  travailetli  in  pain  together 
until  now,”  laboring  in  its  pangs,  and  struggling  to 
be  free. 

So  far  from  showing  commiseration,  and  whisper¬ 
ing  hope,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  nature  stands 
ready  to  avenge  the  quarrel  of  God  with  man.  Take 
as  examples,  the  histories  of  Pharaoh  and  Herod. 
When  the  former  refused  to  obey  the  mandates  of 
heaven,  all  nature  expressed  its  sympathy  with  its 
injured  Maker;  armed  in  his  behalf  and  put  itself  in 
motion  to  avenge  the  insult.  The  latter,  affected  to 
be  thought  a  god,  forthwith  an  angel,  jealous  of 
Jehovah’s  honor,  descends  and  smites  him;  and,  at 
the  same  moment,  the  meanest  insects  begin  to  de¬ 
vour  him  :  the  highest  order  of  created  intelligence, 
and  the  lowest  form  of  animal  existence,  the  two 
extremes  in  the  scale  of  creation,  unite  to  prostrate 
and  punish  his  impiety.  It  will  be  found,  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  divine  justice,  that  every  element  of 
nature  has  taken  its  turn,  as  a  minister  of  wrath, 
to  assert  the  quarrel  of  God  with  rebellious  man. 
And,  be  it  remembered,  that  one  of  these  elements 
is  held  in  reserve  for  the  destruction  of  the  world : 
he  has  only  to  speak,  and  it  will  wrap  the  globe  in 
living  flames.  Meanwhile,  he  may  be  said  to  have 
laid  all  nature  under  a  solemn  interdict,  not  to  min¬ 
ister  to  our  most  pressing  wants  ;  he  has  laid  it  under 
an  eternal  ban.  Let  there  be  no  peace  to  the  wicked 
saith  my  God  ;  let  every  thing  be  at  war  with  him. 
If  he  will  be  the  enemy  of  God,  let  him  live  and  die 
amidst  a  universe  of  frowns :  let  every  thing  in 
heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  be  armed,  and  ready  to  assail 
him:  let  there  be  no  peace  to  the  wicked;  and  universal 
nature  responds,  there  shall  be  none ;  and  the  univer¬ 
sal  experience  of  sinners,  as  it  sends  up  its  reply 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


89 


from  the  bottomless  pit  declares,  in  accents  of  terri¬ 
ble  despair,  there  is  none.  Could  the  sinner  but  open 
his  eyes  to  the  dreadful  reality  of  his  condition,  were 
he  endowed  with  a  power  of  vision  like  the  servant 
of  the  prophet,  he  would  find  himself  surrounded, 
not  indeed  with  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  to  guard 
him,  but  with  terrible  forms  of  anger  and  destruction, 
waiting  to  dart  on  him,  and  make  him  their  prey. 
He  would  find  himself  standing  in  the  great  theatre 
of  the  universe,  witli  every  eye  that  it  contains  fixed 
and  frowning  upon  him  ;  with  every  weapon  in  the 
infinite  armory  of  God,  ready,  and  leveled  against 
him.  And  the  hour  arrives  when  he  finds  that  sin 
has  arrayed  against  him,  not  only  all  the  universe 
without,  but  all  the  powers  and  passions  within  him  ; 
that  it  has  armed  him  against  himfeelf ;  that  it  has 
given  a  sting  to  every  thought,  and  turned  his  con¬ 
science  into  a  worm  that  dieth  not,  and  his  depraved 
and  ungoverned  passions  into  fires  never  to  be 
quenched. 

O  how  unparalleled  the  infatuation  of  the  man  who 
pretends,  that,  from  the  doubtful  and  scattered  inti¬ 
mations  of  nature,  he  can  collect  the  materials  of  a 
sufficient  creed  ;  when,  at  the  same  time,  they  are  so 
obviously  intermixed  with  the  fragments  of  a  violat¬ 
ed  law.  Nature,  indeed,  is  still  an  oracle  on  one 
point ;  and  when  consulted  on  that  point,  which  re¬ 
lates  to  the  great  remedy' for  sin,  her  spontaneous 
response  is  it  is  not  in  me  :  it  is  not  until  man  has 
examined  her  by  torture,  that  he  extorts  some  doubt¬ 
ful  reply,  which — his  vanity  being  made  the  inter¬ 
preter — is  found  to  coincide  with  his  wishes,  and  to 
flatter  his  pride.  On  the  fact  of  the  divine  existence, 
indeed,  the  protestations  of  nature  are  positive,  loud 
and  unceasing;  this  is  a  truth  of  which  she  is  never 
making  less  than  solemn  affirmation  and  oath,  with 
all  her  myriad  voices  ;  the  unintermitting  response 
of  the  living  creatures  heard  by  John,  is  only  the 
echo  of  her  voice  in  the  sanctuary  above,  proclaim¬ 
ing  to  the  universe  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead. 

8* 


90  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

But,  however  able  and  ready  to  enlighten  the  inquir¬ 
ing  mind  on  the  fact  of  his  existence,  she  could  do 
nothing  to  dissipate  the  clouds  of  doubt  and  gloom 
which  had  gathered  and  settled  into  thick  darkness 
round  about  his  throne  :  on  the  anxious  subject  of 
his  character,  and  his  possible  conduct  towards  the 
guilty,  she  has  received  no  instructions  and  is  silent. 
By  the  introduction  of  sin,  our  condition  has  become 
preternatural  and  the  wisdom  that  prescribes  for  us, 
therefore  must  be  supernatural,  or  it  will  prove  su¬ 
pernatural,  or  it  will  prove  a  physician  of  no  value. 

I.  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
came  to  be  the  light  of  the  world  ;  and  one  of  the 
topics  on  which  he  most  delighted  to  expatiate  and 
dwell,  was  the  paternal  character  and  universal  be¬ 
nevolence  of  God.  This,  in  the  form  in  which  it 
came  from  his  hands,  was  an  original  subject  a  new 
gift  to  the  world. 

Hear  his  own  emphatic  representations  ;  “  O  right¬ 
eous  Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee.”  “  No 
man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him.”  “I  have 
manifested  thy  name  unto  the  men  whom  thou  gav- 
est  me  out  of  the  world.”  Such  are  the  unequivocal 
terms  in  which  he  declares,  that,  at  the  time  he 
spoke,  the  world  was  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  ;  that  this  inestimable  knowledge  was  his  own 
peculiar  gift,  the  chief  treasure  which  he  had  brought 
into  the  world  ;  that  the  impartation  of  it  was  in  his 
high  prerogative  alone ;  and  that,  in  the  sovereign 
exercise  of  that  prerogative,  he  had  given  it  to  his 
disciples,  by  them  to  be  communicated  to  the  world 
at  large. 

Nor  does  this  statement  require  any  qualification, 
from  the  fact  that  God  had  before  spoken  to  man, 
“  at  sundry  times,  and  in  divers  manners.”  Without 
any  unjust  depreciation  of  the  Jewish  institute,  it 
may  be  boldly  affirmed,  that  it  gave  but  a  faint  and 
partial  representation  of  the  divine  character.  What 
must  have  been  the  views  of  God  entertained  by 


II1S  ORIGINALITY. 


91 


Solomon,  who,  though  he  had  been  employed  to 
build  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  could  forsake  that  very 
temple  for  an  idol’s  grove  ?  What  must  have  been 
the  god  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  when  he  attempted  to 
flee  from  his  presence,  and  pettishly  charged  him 
with  fickleness  of  purpose  for  not  involving  Nineveh 
in  destruction  ?  It  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  state  the 
precise  amount  of  the  knowledge  of  God  which  is 
essential  to  salvation  ;  but  there  is  reason  to  conclude 
that,  considering  the  peculiar  advantages  of  the  Mo¬ 
saic  economy,  that  knowledge  was  generally  at  its 
minimum  in  Judea.  It  is  more  than  probable,  that 
when  those  prophetic  intimations  were  first  uttered, 
which  contain  most  hope  for  man,  and  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  admire  as  splendid  anticipations 
of  the  gospel,  and  worthy  the  meridian  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church,  they  were  either  dismissed  by  their 
hearers  as  unintelligible,  or  understood  with  so  great 
a  reserve  in  favor  of  Judea,  as  virtually  to  annul  the 
prophecy.  Besides,  between  such  enlarged  repre¬ 
sentations,  and  the  restrictive  spirit  of  their  economy, 
a  conflict  must  necessarily  have  ensued,  which  could 
not  fail  to  end  in  favor  of  the  latter.  And,  when  in 
addition  to  this,  it  is  remembered, — that  the  whole  of 
their  law  had  become  rabbinized  and  overlaid  with 
traditions ;  that,  notwithstanding  their  sacrificial 
types,  the  doctrine  of  pardon  procured  by  a  vicarious 
expiation,  was  “to  the  Jews  a  stumbling  block;” 
that  all  that  was  supernatural  in  their  temple  worship 
had  been  long  since  recalled  to  heaven,  and  all  that 
was  spiritual  suffered  to  depart ;  that  any  of  their 
moral  duties  were  compounded  for  a  pecuniary 
consideration;  that  the  only  heaven  they  knew, 
was  suspended,  in  their  imagination,  over  the 
land  of  Judea ;  and  that  they  were  actually  jealous 
of  the  Divine  being,  lest  he  should  take  within  the 
pale  of  salvation,  any  part  of  the  Gentile  world, — it 
will  be  admitted  that,  of  such  a  people,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  underrate  their  acquaintance  with  the 
divine  character. 


92 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


As  to  the  state  of  the  heathen  world,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  quote  the  declaration  of  the  apostle — 
that  it  knew  not  God.  In  Greece,  where  the  dialec¬ 
tic  philosophy  saw  its  proudest  days ;  at  Athens, 
where  it  was  enthroned,  its  last  effort  was  to  rear 
an  altar  to  the  unknown  God.  At  Rome,  the  asylum 
of  deposed  and  fugitive  gods,  the  pantheon  of  the 
world,  the  genius  of  Cicero,  though  it  towered 
above  his  age,  could  add  nothing  to  the  religious 
knowledge  of  that  age  ;  could  only  speak  vaguely 
of  a  numen  aliquod  pmstantissimce  mentis.  From  the 
moment  that  philosophy  touched  its  meridian  in  the 
hands  of  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  it  began 
to  decline.  Reason,  as  if  blinded  by  excess  of 
light,  submitted  to  be  led  by  any  who  assumed  the 
office  of  a  guide  :  revenged  herself  for  the  prodi¬ 
gious  effort  to  which  she  had  been  tasked,  by  aban¬ 
doning  herself  to  the  sorcery  of  the  senses.  Truth 
was  pronounced  unattainable ;  virtue,  impractica¬ 
ble  ;  the  temples  of  religion  were  ceded  to  vice, 
who  found  herself  consecrated  and  enshrined  in 
their  inmost  recesses  ;  while  the  phantom  of  hap¬ 
piness,  (for  the  reality  had  departed  with  its  sister 
fugitives,  virtue  and  truth,)  was  chased  under  a 
thousand  forms  and  names  ;  till  the  world,  having 
applied  its  fevered  lips  to  the  poisoned  chalice  of 
Epicurus,  concluded,  in  their  intoxication  that  they 
had  found  it  in  the  sensual  form  of  unbridled  pleas¬ 
ure. 

By  one  class,  the  idea  of  a  Deity  was  discarded 
as  a  baseless  figment  of  the  fancy ;  by  another,  be 
was  multiplied  into  “  lords  many,  and  gods  many,” 
the  patrons  of  as  many  vices;  and,  by  a  third,  his 
throne  was  removed  to  a  distance,  which  relieved 
the  world  of  his  presence,  and  eased  him  of  the 
cares  of  active  government.  This  was  unquestion¬ 
ably  the  creed  of  the  majority  ;  for  it  had  this  irre¬ 
sistible  recommendation,  that,  by  admitting  his  ex¬ 
istence,  it  preserved  the  mask  of  religion,  while,  by 
transferring  his  seat  to  some  unknown  region  in 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


93 


the  outskirts  of  the  creation,  it  saved  them  the 
practical  inconvenience  of  regarding  his  character 
or  consulting  his  will.  They  persuaded  themselves, 
not  only  that  his  habitation  was  so  immeasurably 
remote,  but  also  that  his  dignity  and  felicity  were 
so  essentially  dependent  on  undisturbed  repose, 
that  the  character  and  condition  of  human  beings 
never  shared  for  a  moment  his  divine  regards.  This 
was  courteously  deposing,  and  complimentally  dis¬ 
missing  the  god  of  their  creed  beyond  the  circle  of 
their  society.  This  was  “atheism  with  a  god.” 
This  was  attaining  the  completion  of  their  misery 
and  guilt.  For,  by  this  virtual  annihilation  of  the 
Divine  Being,  they  destroyed  every  adequate  re¬ 
straint  on  vice,  every  encouragement  to  virtue,  and 
every  ground  of  substantial  consolation  to  distress. 
The  vicious  might  sin  on,  without  dreading  his 
frown;  the  virtuous  might  sacrifice  life  itself  in  the 
pursuit  of  improvement,  without  hoping  to  obtain 
liis  smile ;  and  had  all  the  sufferers  which  the 
world  contained  sent  up  one  united  groan,  one  con¬ 
centrated  cry  for  relief,  they  would  only  have  been 
giving  their  breath  to  the  winds.  They  had  reduc¬ 
ed  themselves  to  the  blank  and  cheerless  state  of 
being  “without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world.” 

II.  How  different  the  view  of  his  character  and 
conduct,  presented  to  us  by  the  hand  of  Christ ! 
Drawing  aside  the  veil  which  concealed  his  glory 
from  our  eyes,  it  shows  him  in  his  high  and  holy 
place,  not  in  a  state  of  silence  and  solitude,  but  sur¬ 
rounded  by  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands  of  holy,  happy  beings,  and 
every  one  of  them  waiting  to  do  his  bidding ;  not 
in  a  state  of  inactivity  and  moral  indifference,  but 
in  active  communication  with  every  part  of  his  vast 
dominions,  through  a  numberless  variety  of  chan¬ 
nels  ;  not  in  a  state  of  apathy,  regardless  of  the 
world,  and  all  its  multiplied  concerns,  but  as  actu¬ 
ally  stooping  from  his  throne  and  bending  towards 
it,  listening  to  every  sound  it  utters,  observing  the 


94 


THE  GEEAT  TEACHER, 


movements  of  every  being  it  contains,  and  approv¬ 
ing  or  condemning  every  action  it  exhibits  ;  it  even 
shows  him  to  us  in  the  astonishing  act  of  raising 
up  the  fallen  and  prostrate  children  of  earth,  and 
putting  them  in  the  way  of  reaching  his  own  abode. 

To  exalt  our  conceptions  of  the  greatness  of  the 
Deity,  our  divine  Instructor  describes  him  as  reign¬ 
ing  sole  over  all  the  universe  of  matter  and  mind ; 
asserts  the  pure  spirituality  of  his  nature,  which  no 
material  images  can  represent ;  ascribes  to  him  a 
power,  to  which  easy  and  difficult  terms  are  alike 
unknown,  for  to  him  all  things  are  possible  ;  and, 
raising  him  to  an  infinite  height  above  the  loftiest 
created  intelligence,  declares  that  he  stands  alone 
in  absolute,  unapproachable  perfection.  To  enlarge 
our  views  of  his  condescension  and  benevolence, 
he  assembles  the  universal  family  of  man,  “  the 
just  and  the  unjust,”  and  takes  from  each  of  the  un¬ 
counted  multitude  a  distinct  attestation  of  the  di¬ 
vine  goodness  to  himself  in  particular.  He  leads 
them  abroad  into  the  open  fields  of  nature,  and,  lo, 
on  touching  their  eyes,  he  surprises  them  with  the 
sight  of  the  hand  which  upholds  the  world,  em¬ 
ployed  in  painting  the  lily  of  the  field,  feeding  the 
fowls  of  the  air,  and  adjusting  and  succoring  the  de¬ 
scent  of  the  falling  sparrow.  He  appeals  to  every 
drop  of  rain,  and  to  every  ray  of  light  shed  on  an  un¬ 
thankful  world  ;  and  they  confirm  his  testimony  to 
the  supreme  goodness. 

But  he  informs  his  disciples  that  the  amount  of 
divine  attention  bestowed  on  any  given  object  is 
proportioned  to  the  rank  which  that  object  occu¬ 
pies  in  the  scale  of  creation.  If  the  grass  of  the 
field,  then,  share  so  much  of  the  divine  attention, 
can  we  form  exaggerated  ideas  of  the  regard  he 
bestows  on  man  ?  Having  thus  prepared  his  disci¬ 
ples  to  see  greater  things  than  these,  he  conducts 
them  into  a  higher  department  of  truth.  He  lays 
open  to  their  inspection  the  volume  of  providence, 
and  turning  to  the  name  of  each  one  in  succession, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


95 


shows  him  that  in  that  Volume  each  has  a  page ; 
that  he  has  never  been  absent  from  the  mind  of 
God  ;  that  the  page  assigned  to  him  contains  ev¬ 
ery  particular  in  his  history,  even  to  the  numbered 
hairs  of  his  head. 

III.  From  this  department  of  truth  he  leads  us 
into  a  higher  region  still ;  for,  having  elated  our 
hopes  by  the  minuteness  of  the  divine  attention  to 
our  temporal  condition,  he  has  prepared  us  to  look 
for  a  far  more  astonishing  display  of  divine  munifi¬ 
cence  towards  us,  as  his  spiritual  offspring.  Hav¬ 
ing  already  shown  us  the  liberality  of  his  hand,  he 
encourages  us  to  approach  and  take  a  nearer  view 
of  his  character,  to  look  into  his  heart.  We  begin 
to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  exercise,  to  feel  our 
hope  taking  confidence,  and  our  anticipations  grow¬ 
ing  sanguine  ;  we  become  conscious  that  we  must 
give  scope  and  wing  to  our  expectation,  and  urge 
it  to  its  utmost  flight,  to  do  any  thing  like  justice  to 
the  occasion.  But  who  shall  anticipate  the  gifts  of 
infinite  love  ? 

“God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  be¬ 
gotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.”  Though  sin 
had  for  ages  disturbed  the  equable  flow  of  the  divine 
benevolence  to  man,  that  benevolence  had  uever,  for 
a  moment,  ceased  to  accumulate,  or  lost  its  earth¬ 
ward  direction.  Through  every  hour,  of  every  age, 
it  had  continued  to  increase  ;  and  was  only  restrain¬ 
ed  till  a  suitable  channel  was  ready,  and  the  world 
prepared  to  receive  it.  And  now,  when  the  fullness 
of  time  was  come,  the  windows  of  heaven,  the  heart 
of  Deity  itself,  was  opened,  and  poured  forth  on  the 
world  a  healing  flood  of  heavenly  grace.  Herein  is 
love  !  We  will  not  presume  to  question  whether  a 
a  gift  of  inferior  value  would  have  been  adequate  to 
relieve  the  world  or  not :  but  God  so  loved  us  that 
he  could  not  have  realized  his  vast  propensions  of 
grace  by  giving  us  less ;  he  so  loved  us  that  he 
would  not  suffer  it  to  remain  possible  to  be  said  that 


96 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


he  could  love  us  more  ;  he  knew  that  a  donation  of 
calculable  value  would  only  call  forth  an  odious  spirit 
of  fierce  and  jealous  monopoly,  but  he  so  loved  us, 
that  he  resolved  on  a  gift,  defying  all  computation, 
and  the  very  mention  of  which  should  surcharge  our 
minds  with  greatness,  give  us  an  idea  of  infinity,  and 
impregnate  our  selfishness  with  a  transforming  senti¬ 
ment  of  generous  and  diffusive  benevolence  ;  he  so 
loved  us,  that  he  would  leave  nothing  for  the  most 
apprehensive  guilt  to  fear,  nor  the  most  capacious 
wishes  to  desire  ;  he  laid  claim  to  the  whole  of  our 
affections,  by  pouring  out  the  whole  treasury  of  heav¬ 
en,  by  giving  us  his  all  at  once.  Herein  is  love ! 

“  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn 
the  world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be 
saved.”  In  order  to  enhance  our  views  of  the  divine 
compassion,  the  Saviour,  in  this  language,  reminds 
us  of  the  terrible  alternative  which  outraged  Omnip¬ 
otence  might  have  adopted.  He  carries  back  our 
thoughts  to  the  time  when  God,  after  looking  with 
centuries  of  patience  and  forbearance  on  the  unpar¬ 
alleled  spectacle  of  his  holy  law  prostrate,  and  broken, 
and  trampled  under  foot  by  a  confederated  race  of 
I'ebellious  creatures,  came  forth  out  of  his  place,  and 
punished  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniqui¬ 
ty  ;  swept  them  away  with  a  flood  as  with  a  besom 
of  destruction.  But  man,  insensible  to  the  lessons  of 
chastisement,  was  no  sooner  permitted  to  repeople 
the  earth,  than  he  resumed  his  weapons,  renewed  his 
hostility  to  heaven  under  circumstances  of  aggrava¬ 
tion  unknown  before,  and  transmitted  to  his  posteri¬ 
ty,  as  if  it  had  been  a  sacred  obligation,  the  art  and 
spirit  of  the  unnatural  war.  So  deep  had  this  infer¬ 
nal  enmity  to  God  struck  its  roots  in  the  human 
heart,  and  so  wide  were  its  ramifications  throughout 
the  entire  mass  of  humanity,  that  even  a  solitary  indi¬ 
cation  of  returning  friendship  towards  him  was  de¬ 
nounced  as  treachery  to  a  common  cause  ;  the  first 
relaxation  of  this  impious  strife,  the  first  relenting 
sigh,  was  instantly  detected  by  a  wakeful  impiety, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


97 


quickened  by  hatred  to  an  instinctive  vigilance  ;  and 
was  summarily  dealt  with  as  an  enemy  in  the  camp. 
Man  had  naturalized  t*e  principle  of  sin  ;  had  con¬ 
secrated  vice  in  all  its  forms;  had  opened  to  it  all 
the  recesses  of  his  nature;  cherished  and  established 
its  dominion  by  every  species  of  submission  and  in¬ 
dulgence  ;  and  boasted  ol  his  new  allegiance  in  the 
face  ol  heaven,  llie  law  which  kept  mankind  unit¬ 
ed,  the  only  sympathy  which  held  the  unnumbered 
parts  and  interests  oi  the  world  in  affinity,  seemed  to 
be  an  all-pervading  principle  of  aversion  to  God ; 
and  this  was  sufficient  to  bind  them  fast  for  ages,  in 
one  gi  eat  and  unbroken  work  of  prodigious  guilt, 
llie  destruction  of  the  world,  therefore,  so  far  from 
being  an  infraction  of  justice,  was  only  what  justice 
required  ;  would  only  have  been  the  natural  course 
of  things,  flowing  in  the  unobstructed  order  of  cause 
and  effect.  A  crisis  had  arrived  in  the  government 
of  God  on  earth,  in  which  something  great  and  de¬ 
cisive  must  be  done  ;  prolong  the  delay— and  the 
character  of  God  will  be  compromised  and  gone; 
the  voices  of  the  souls  beneath  the  altar  were  weari¬ 
ed  with  crying  for  retribution ;  the  armory  of  heav¬ 
en  was  open  ;  all  its  hosts  and  equipments  ready ; 
justice  had  only  to  speak  the  word,  and,  in  a  mo¬ 
ment’s  flight,  the  panic  earth  would  have  beheld  its 
firmament  filled  with  the  careering  fires  and  terrific 
forms  of  descending  wrath.  The  Son  of  God  had 
oiil\  to  poui  out  the  vial  of  incensed  wrath,  and 
there  had  been  voices,  and  thunderings,  and  light- 
nmgs,  and  earthquakes,  and  universal  desolation  • 
and  all  the  holy  intelligences,  as  they  stood  afar  off;’ 
on  the  sea  of  glass,  beholding  the  tremendous  catas¬ 
trophe,  would  have  said,  “Thou  art  righteous  O 
Lord,  because  thou  hast  judged  thus.”  "  ’ 

But  at  that  crisis  of  the  world,  when  every  move¬ 
ment  in  the  government  of  God  was  to  be  watched 
•mill  breathless  apprehension,  when,  had  justice 
iWcle  the  slightest  move,  every  thing  that  had  feeling 
would  have  veiled  its  eyes  in  fear,  then  megcy  pre- 
9 


98 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

vailed  to  unfold  the  scheme  of  love,  and  it  became 
the  office  of  justice  to  wonder  and  attend ;  then, 
when  God  might  have  sent  l**s  Son  to  condemn  the 
world,  he  was  sent — amazing  grace  ! — to  save  it. 
Herein  is  love  !  The  apostles  never  touched  it,  but 
they  instantly  kindled  at  the  inspiration  of  the 
theme.  Conscious  that  their  language  fell  far  below 
their  conceptions,  and  their  conception  below  their 
subject,  they  could  only  exclaim,  in  the  impotence  of 
overwhelming  admiration,  Herein  is  love !  The  uni¬ 
verse  is  crowded  with  proofs  of  his  benevolence  ; 
but  here  is  a  proof  which  outweighs  them  all !  How 
much  he  loved  us  we  can  never  compute  ;  we  have 
no  line  with  which  to  fathom,  no  standard  with 
which  to  compare  it ;  hut  he  so  loved  us  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  through  him  he  might 
confer  on  us  eternal  life. 

IV.  But,  in  order  to  raise  our  estimate  of  the  di¬ 
vine  benevolence,  the  Saviour  not  only  announces 
that  he  brings  from  heaven  the  infinite  donation  of 
eternal  life  ;  he  points  our  attention  to  the  means  of 
mercy.  “For  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  so  must  the  Son  of  man  he  lifted  up.” 
Everlasting  life  is  a  gift  so  ineffably  great,  an  alter¬ 
native  so  vast  for  creatures  who  had  reached,  who 
were  crossing  the  confines  of  endless  death,  that  had 
it  cost  the  Almighty  hut  a  mere  volition,  had  it 
been  the  result  of  a  fiat  as  easy  and  unexpensive  as 
that  which  gave  birth  to  light,  it  would  still  have  ren¬ 
dered  his  grace  the  theme  and  wonder  of  the  uni¬ 
verse.  But,  however  spontaneous  the  love  which 
projected  the  plan  of  mercy,  the  execution  of  that 
plan  asks  for  more  than  the  simple  volitions  which 
created  the  world,  or  the  unconstrained  and  tranquil 
circulation  of  the  power  which  sustains  it :  The  Son 
of  Man  must  he  lifted  up.  He  must  yield  to  condi-  ft 
tions  of  which  an  infinite  nature  alone  is  capable  ;-  ■ 

and  in  yielding  to  which,  all  that  infinite  capaM^jK'*  '( 

will  be  in  stress.  At  the  time  he  spoke,  he  hajpsal- 
ready  made  an  infinite  stoop,  in  consenting ’“I 


J 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


99 

actual  junction  with  the  nature  that  had  sinned,  and 
on  which  sin  was  to  be  punished.  But  this  was 
only  the  prologue  of  the  act  of  mercy.  He  had 
joined  the  offending  nature  to  his  own,  lor  the  dis¬ 
tinct  and  deliberate  object  of  pouring  out  the  blood 
which  flowed  through  its  veins,  and  of  making  its 
soul  an  offering  for  sin.  His  whole  life  was  only  a 
preface  to  his  death.  Having  taken  a  survey  of  all 
that  would  be  required  from  the  Surety  of  sinners  ; 
having  cast  up  and  pondered  the  mighty  sum  of 
guilt  to  be  cancelled  ;  and  measured  with  his  eye  the 
thunder-stores  of  wrath  which  must  be  exhausted  ; 
arid  fathomed  the  pit  which  to  them  was  bottomless  : 
he  pressed  the  entire  responsibility  to  his  heart,  and 
addressed  himself  to  the  task.  Our  nature,  to  him, 
was  a  robe  of  suffering,  assumed  expressly,  that, 
when  the  crisis  of  our  redemption  came,  justice 
might  find  him  saerificially  attired  and  prepared  for 
the  altar,  a  substance  which  her  sword  could  smite,  a 
victim  which  could  agonize  and  die.  And  if  the  hu¬ 
man  soul  admits  of  an  indefinite  enlargement,  in  its 
capacity  of  pleasure  and  pain;  if  the  admission,  of 
the  purified  spirit  to  the  uncreated  splendor  above, 
augments  that  capacity  to  such  a  degree,  that  almost 
an  infinitude  of  emotion  can  be  compressed  into  the 
space  of  a  moment  ;  what  must  have  been  the  meas¬ 
ureless  capability  of  the  human  soul  which  he  took 
into  so  perfect  a  union  with  his  divinity,  that  the  two 
natures  composed  only  one  person  ;  what  must  have 
been  the  acquired  intensity  of  its  antipathy  to  sin, 
and  what  the  consequent  intensity  of  his  exceeding 
sorrow,  when,  being  in  an  agony,  he  had,  in  a  sense, 
to  absorb,  the  infinite  mass  of  human  guilt,  and  to 
exhaust,  in  one  short  moment,  the  mighty  cup  of 
omnipotent  wrath  ! 

For  the  key  to  all  this  mystery  of  compassion,  the 
Saviour  himself  refers  us  to  the  love  of  God.  While 
we  are  standing  before  his  cross,  and  musing  on  that 
amazing  expedient  of  mercy,  the  holy  Sufferer  him¬ 
self  raises  his  eyes  to  heaven  for  its  origin,  and  looks 


100 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


at  the  heart  of  God.  He  impresses  on  us  the  sublime 
fact,  that  the  father  loves  us,  not  in  consequence  of 
the  great  propitiation,  but  that  he  provided  the  pro¬ 
pitiation  because  he  loved  us  ;  because  he  was  bent 
on  obtaining  a  medium  through  which  he  could  pour 
out  the  ocean-fullness  of  his  love  upon  us. 

Of  all  the  remarkable  declarations  of  Christ,  when 
the  love  of  God  was  his  theme,  one  of  the  most 
striking,  perhaps,  and  which  seems  to  place  us  in 
an  unusually  favorable  condition  for  looking  at  the 
divine  benevolence,  is  the  memorable  sentence, 
“  Therefore  doth  my  father  love  me,  because  I  lay 
down  my  life,  that  1  might  take  it  again  . be¬ 

cause  1  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep in  other 
words,  “  My  father  loves  you  with  a  love  so  unbound¬ 
ed,  that  he  even  loves  me  the  more  for  dying  to  re¬ 
deem  you.  He  so  loves  you,  that  whatever  facilitates 
the  expression  of  his  love,  receives  an  expression  of 
his  divine  esteem :  by  sustaining  your  liabilities,  by 
surrendering  my  life  as  an  equivalent  for  your  trans¬ 
gressions,  and  thus  vindicating  his  law'  from  all  ap¬ 
pearance  of  connivance  at  sin,  I  am  setting  his  com¬ 
passion  at  liberty;  lam  removing  a  restraint  from 
his  love,  which  threatened  to  hold  it  in  eternal  sus¬ 
pense  ;  I  am  enabling  his  grace  to  act,  to  save  whom 
it  will ;  and  for  thus  concurring  in  his  benevolent 
purpose,  and  opening  an  ample  channel  for  the  tide 
of  his  love  to  flow  in,  the  Father  loves  me  ;  I  receive 
such  additional  expressions  of  his  complacency,  that, 
though  ineffably  beloved  from  eternity,  he  may  be 
said  to  have  added  infinite  delight  to  infinite.” 

And  how  does  it  enhance  our  conceptions  of  the 
divine  compassion  when  we  reflect  that  there  is  a 
sense  in  which  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  the  suf¬ 
ferings  of  the  father  also.  From  eternity,  their  divine 
subsistence  in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  had  been 
only  short  of  identity ;  nor  could  the  circumstance 
of  the  Saviour’s  humiliation  in  the  slightest  degree 
relax  the  bonds  of  this  mutual  in-being;  while  walk¬ 
ing  the  earth  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  he  coidd  still 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


101 


affirm,  “My  father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  him  ....  I  and 
my  father  are  one.”  Once  and  again  did  the  pater¬ 
nal  complacency  overflow,  surprising  the  world  with 
expressions  of  infinite  delight,  and  inviting  us  to  re¬ 
sign  our  hearts  at  once  and  forever  to  his  beloved 
Son;  besides  which,  numerous  intimations  are  giv¬ 
en,  that  the  mysterious  interchange  of  divine  affec¬ 
tion  which  had  existed  from  eternity,  continued  in 
undiminished  activity;  that  the  Incarnate  Word  was 
often  surrounded  as  with  an  atmosphere  instinct 
with  love,  into  which  God  had  breathed  the  elements 
of  joy  which  He  had  with  the  Father  before  the 
world  was  ;  that  had  the  great  designs  of  mercy  al¬ 
lowed,  the  paternal  love,  as  if  impatient  of  his  con¬ 
tinuance  on  earth  would  have  borne  him  from  the 
world,  and  resumed  him  to  himself  again. 

The  love  of  God  then  invites  our  adoration,  not 
only  as  it,  at  first,  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  ;  during 
every  moment  of  the  Saviour’s  sojourn  on  earth,  that 
love  was  repeating  its  gift,  was  making  an  infinite 
sacrifice  for  sinners  ;  while  every  pang  he  endured 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  work  was  the  infliction  of  a 
wound  in  the  very  heart  of  paternal  love.  Who  then 
shall  venture  to  speak  of  the  appeal  which  was  made 
to  that  love,  of  the  trial  to  which  that  love  was  put, 
when  the  blessed  Jesus  took  into  his  hand  the  cup  of 
suffering,  when  his  capacity  for  suffering  was  the  on¬ 
ly  limitation  his  sufferings  knew.  If  it  be  true  that 
God  is  always  in  vital,  sympathetic  communication 
with  every  part  of  the  suffering  creation  ;  that,  as  the 
sensoriuin  of  the  universe,  he  apprehends  every  emo¬ 
tion  and  commiserates  every  thrill  of  anguish,  how 
exquisitely  must  he  have  felt  the  filial  appeal,  when, 
in  the  extremity  of  pain,  in  the  very  crisis  of  his  ago¬ 
nizing  task,  the  Saviour  cried,  “  My  God,  my  God  ; 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  !”  Were  it  possible  for  a 
moment  to  occur,  in  which  the  worship  of  heaven 
could  be  lost  on  the  divine  attention  ;  in  which  the 
infinite  mind  could  be  concentrated  and  confined  to 
one  object  alone ;  that,  surely,  must  have  been  the 


109  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

moment.  Were  it  possible  that  any  juncture  could 
have  arrived,  in  which  the  paternal  love  could  have 
repented  the  sacrifice  it  had  made  for  man ;  that, 
surely,  must  have  been  the  hour. 

What  a  new  and  amazing  insight,  then  does  it  give 
us  into  his  love  for  sinners,  that  it  was  able  to  bear 
the  stress  of  that  crisis,  that  it  did  not  yield  and 
give  way  to  the  incalculable  power  of  that  appeal. 
This  is  a  circumstance,  which  if  I  may  so  say,  puts 
into  our  hands  a  line,  enabling  us  to  fathom  his  love 
to  an  infinite  depth ;  but  we  find  it  immeasurably 
deeper  still.  It  invests  the  attractions  of  the  cross 
with  augmented  power  ;  lor  in  the  sufferings  of  that 
scene  we  behold  more — if  more  we  are  capable  of 
seeing — more  even  than  tire  love  of  Christ ;  in  every 
pang  which  is  there  endured,  we  behold  the  throes  of 
paternal  love,  the  pulsations  and  tears  of  infinite  com¬ 
passion  ;  more  than  the  creation  in  travail,  the  divine 
Creator  himself  travailing  in  the  greatness  of  almigh¬ 
ty  love. 

V.  But  if  this  be  an  outline  of  the  means  of  mercy, 
what  can  be  the  nature  of  that  end  which  justifies  the 
employment  of  such  means  ?  To  enlarge  our  views 
of  the  divine  benevolence,  the  Saviour  announces  that 
he  brings  from  heaven  the  vast  donation  of  eternal 
life  ;  that  the  sole  object  of  God,  in  sending  him  to  be 
lifted  up,  is,  that  we  might  have  everlasting  life.  The 
separation  which  sin  had  effected  between  God  and 
man,  had  robbed  us  of  a  whole  order  of  life.  All  that 
remained  to  us  on  earth  was  a  masked  and  modified 
form  of  death  ;  and,  as  to  the  future,  there  was  noth¬ 
ing  left  us  but  to  perish  for  ever.  Here,  then,  was 
scope  for  divine  benevolence  to  do  as  little  or  as  much 
as  it  chose.  Here  was  a  wide  waste  of  misery,  in¬ 
ferior  only  to  the  blank  and  limitless  desolation  of 
hell,  in  which  divine  compassion  could  find  room  to 
expatiate  at  large  ;  and  in  which,  while  its  richest 
stores  could  be  all  employed,  its  smallest  gift  would 
be  an  infinite  gratuity — showing  like  a  single  star  in 
the  darkness  of  midnight. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


103 


But  he  chose  it  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  mightiest 
grace.  As  if  heaven  with  all  its  amplitude,  were  too 
confined,  he  sought  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  benef¬ 
icence,  by  the  addition  of  another  province  ;  and,  as 
if  to  take  the  universe  by  surprise,  to  put  forth  liis 
grace  in  a  form  which  it  had  not  entered  into  the  bu¬ 
sy  and  far-reaching  minds  of  angels  to  conceive,  he 
chose  that  that  province  should  be  this  sinking  world. 
Butthere  is  suspended  over  it  a  sweeping  sentence  of 
utter  condemnation ;  the  clouds  of  wrath  are  collected 
around  it ;  the  materials  of  destruction  have  been 
piled  up  for  ages,  and  still  they  continue  to  increase ; 
it  is  the  place  where  Satan’s  seat  is,  and  all  its  popu¬ 
lation  he  holds  in  allegiance  ;  it  is  the  immediate  pre¬ 
cincts  and  neighborhood  of  hell.  Yes,  but  these  are 
the  mighty  impediments  which  it  is  the  glory  of  God 
to  cope  with  and  overcome  ;  these  are  the  hopeless 
materials,  the  elements  of  damnation,  out  of  which  he 
delights  to  raise  the  fabric  of  eternal  life.  To  deliver 
us  oidy  from  the  impending  evil,  or  to  confer  on  us 
merely  a  limited  good,  could  not  have  satisfied  his 
paternal  heart.  Having  committed  himself  to  the 
amazing  work  of  our  redemption,  he  resolved  that  he 
would  spare  nothing  however  costly,  withhold  noth¬ 
ing  however  dear,  which  was  essential  to  the  con¬ 
summation  of  the  design.  Having  begun  to  bless  us, 
he  determined  that  he  would  not  stop  short  of  heaven 
itself ;  that  he  would  not  stop  even  there,  but  would 
continue  to  surround  us  with  favors,  to  heap  on  us 
gift  after  gill,  until  he  had  filled  our  capacity  for 
enjoyment,  and  had  opened  to  us  all  the  treasures  of 
eternal  life. 

For  this  high  purpose  his  peculiar  presence  was 
necessary  amongst  us;  accordingly,  he  erected  a 
throne  on  earth,  making  it  the  scene  of  his  especial 
grace,  and  of  wonders  surpassing  those  of  heaven. 
The  course  of  justice  requires  that  sin  should  be,  not 
merely  pardoned,  but  punished,  or  expiated  ;  he  com¬ 
passes  both  by  appointing  his  only  begotten  Son,  first 
to  expiate,  and  then  forgive.  But  man  is  severed  from 


104 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  life  of  God  ;  his  soul  is  so  palsied  and  disabled 
by  the  deadly  poison  of  sin,  that  his  spiritual  system 
is  incapable  of  appropriating  and  circulating  the  elem¬ 
ent  of  a  divine  life,  were  it  even  provided ;  and  so 
prone,  so  ingenious  is  he  to  pervert  every  blessing  he 
receives,  and  to  employ  it  as  a  weapon  against  the  di¬ 
vine  Bestower,  that  providence  can  hardly  dare  to 
bless  him.  But  God  is  not  to  be  thus  defeated :  he 
sent  his  Son  to  assume  our  humanity ;  that  through 
him  he  might  open  the  springs  of  his  life-giving  na¬ 
ture  anew,  and  henceforth  maintain  a  perpetual  stream 
of  his  vital  and  transforming  spirit ;  that,  by  this  mys¬ 
terious  adjunction  of  our  nature  to  his,  lie  himself 
might  henceforth  live  through  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul — light,  in  its  understanding;  love,  in  its  affec¬ 
tions  ;  a  perpetual  current  of  blessedness  and  joy, 
blended  with  the  stream  of  its  own  consciousness ; 
and  life  to  its  immortality,  life  of  the  most  exalted  or¬ 
der.  But  the  properties  of  that  life,  who  on  earth 
shall  describe  ?  It  is  more  than  a  simple  element  of 
good,  a  single  blessing ;  it  is  a  vast  assemblage  of 
blessings.  All  other  things,  at  best,  are  only  accessa¬ 
ries  to  happiness ;  this,  is  happiness  itself.  Compared 
with  this,  a  bare  perpetuity  of  existence,  is  only  a 
mockery  of  life,  deserves  only  the  name  of  death ; 
this  is  existence,  enriched  with  the  highest  positive 
blessedness ;  life  purified,  exalted,  applied  to  the  loft¬ 
iest  purposes,  carried  out  to  its  utmost  extent  of  enjoy¬ 
ment  ;  the  very  crown  of  being.  Everlasting  life  is  a 
name  for  a  blessing,  which  enables  us  to  challenge, 
with  impunity,  the  universe  of  evil,  and  to  write  our 
names,  as  heirs,  on  all  the  universe  of  good  ;  it  is  God 
himself  multiplied  in  the  souls  of  his  people. 

VI.  And,  as  the  representative  of  the  Father,  our 
blessed  Lord  offered  this  gift  to  all.  Human  reason, 
arguing  from  the  limited  application  of  the  benefit, 
would  infer  that  the  extent  of  the  love  which  provided, 
and  the  value  of  the  means  which  procured  it,  are 
limited  also  ;  would  examine  them  by  the  torture  of 
its  logic,  and  bring  its  insignificant  line  to  the  men- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


105 


surement  of  boundless  grace.  Human  selfishness 
would  make  a  monopoly  of  eternal  life.  The  Jewish 
Christians  would  fain  have  made  it  a  local  and  nation¬ 
al  benefit;  till  the  unconfinable  spirit  came,  and 
showed  them  that,  like  the  air,  it  belonged  to  the 
world.  And  the  inheritors  of  their  selfishness,  in  ev¬ 
ery  succeeding  age,  have  attempted  to  number  Israel, 
to  count  the  people  ;  have  adhered  to  the  persuasion 
that  the  great  gilt  of  eternal  life  is  only  to  be  offered 
to  a  party.  But  an  attempt  to  imprison  the  air,  and 
to  enchain  the  light,  would  be  wise  and  salutary 
compared  with  this. 

Of  the  angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate,  we 
read,  that  God  hath  reserved  them  in  everlasting 
chains,  under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day.  From  which  we  learn,  that  when  any 
part  of  the  creation  sins,  and  falls  away  from  God, 
the  natural,  direct,  and  if  mercy  interpose  not,  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  such  apostacy,  is  everlast¬ 
ing  and  remediless  punishment.  Why  did  not  sin 
then  entail  this  awful  consequence  on  man  ?  Why 
is  it  that  some  other  race  of  intelligent  beings  is  not, 
at  this  moment,  reading  concerning  us,  what  we  have 
just  quoted  of  the  apostate  angels — that  the  race  of 
man,  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  who  kept  not  their 
first  estate,  God  hath  reserved  in  everlasting  chains 
of  darkness  against  the  judgment  of  the  great  day  ? 
Our  only  reply  is  that  God,  having  designed  our  sal¬ 
vation,  devised  an  expedient,  in  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ,  of  unlimited  value — unlimited,  by  right  of  its 
own  nature,  as  God  himself  is  infinite ;  so  that 
the  love  of  God,  acting  through  the  atonement  of 
Christ,  has  been,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  keep¬ 
ing  all  the  living  out  of  hell,  .and  conducting  multi¬ 
tudes  to  heaven  ;  and  thus  operating,  as  it  is  at  this 
moment,  in  favor  of  all  mankind.  To  this  source  it 
is  that  our  Lord  would  have  us  to  ascribe  our  com¬ 
mon  mercies ;  he  would  put  every  individual  of  our 
race  to  take  a  census  of  the  divine  favors  ;  to  com¬ 
pute  how  many  of  these  he  enjoys  in  common  with 


10G 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  species,  and  how  many,  besides,  are  conferred  iu 
particular  on  himself ;  and,  finally,  to  draw  the  inev¬ 
itable  conclusion,  that  universality  belongs  to  the 
divine  goodness.  And,  while  his  ordinary  blessings 
are  chartered  to  the  world,  shall  the  stigma  of  exclu¬ 
siveness  be  reserved  for  his  grace  alone  ?  “I  am 
the  light  of  the  world,”  said  Christ ;  a  blessing  uni¬ 
versal  as  the  light.  He  came  to  demolish  every  wall 
of  partition,  to  throw  open  every  compartment  in  the 
temple  of  creation,  that  every  worshiper  might  have 
free  and  equal  access  to  the  God  of  the  temple.  He 
so  unveiled  and  presented  the  character  of  God,  that 
every  human  being  should  feel  it  to  be  looking  on 
himself,  casting  an  aspect  of  benignity  directly  on 
himself.  The  message  of  mercy  which  he  brought 
from  the  Father  was  meant  for  the  ear  of  the  world  ; 
“  whoso  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear.”  And  sup¬ 
posing  the  world  to  be  assembled,  and  audience 
obtained,  this  was  the  music  which  broke  from  his 
lips,  “  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.”  He  gave  him, 
to  encircle  the  world  with  an  atmosphere  of  grace, 
as  real  and  universal,  as  the  elemental  air  which  en¬ 
compasses  and  circulates  around  itself;  and  whoever 
chooses  to  enhale  it  hath  eternal  life. 

Herein  is  love !  That  he  should  have  raised  our 
world  from  the  gloomy  suberbs  of  hell,  and  have 
lifted  it  into  the  radiance  of  an  orbit  next  his  throne  ; 
that  he  should  have  made  our  hatred  subserve  the 
purposes  of  his  love,  and  have  educed  from  our  evil 
a  greater  good  than  would  have  otherwise  existed; 
that  he  should  have  adopted  our  nature  into  the  per¬ 
son  of  his  Son,  and  have  carried  it  to  the  highest 
throne  of  the  highest  heavens  ;  that  he  should  con¬ 
fer  on  us  an  honor,  to  which  a  retinue  of  angels 
would  form  no  comparison,  no  addition — himself 
inhabiting  and  possessing  us  with  his  own  life,  mak¬ 
ing  us  instinct  with  his  own  spirit ;  that  the  origin  of 
all  this  should  be  his  spontaneous  love  ;  that  the 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


107 


means  of  it  should  be  the  incarnation  and  death  of 
his  only  begotton  Son,  and  its  consummation — but 
lor  that  we  have  at  present  only  a  name,  standing  in 
the  stead  of  an  inlinite  meaning — everlasting  life  ; — 
whatever  the  point  from  which  we  contemplate  his 
love,  the  prospect  widens  into  infinitude  ;  the  subject 
grows  in  our  hands  ;  amasses  glory  on  glory,  till  it 
becomes  too  bright  tor  contemplation,  and  towers  as 
high  as  the  heaven  is  above  the  earth.  O  what  a 
God,  what  a  Father,  what  an  ocean  of  love  is  the  God 
of  our  salvation  !  Having  collected  all  the  riches  of 
the  universe,  and  laid  open  ail  the  resources  of  his 
inlinite  nature,  he  gave  them  all  into  the  hands  of 
Christ,  and  said,  “  These,  all  these,  are  lor  man ;  use 
them  lor  man  ;  distribute  them  to  men  ;  if  necessary, 
confer  them  all  upon  man,  in  order  to  convince  him 
that  there  is  no  love  in  the  universe  but  mine,  and 
that  his  happiness  consists  in  loving  me,  and  giving 
himself  to  me  in  return.”  In  discharge  of  this  mo¬ 
mentous  trust,  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt 
among  us.  It  was  to  render  this  vast  deposit  availa¬ 
ble  that  he  sprinkled  it  with  his  blood ;  an  act  by 
which  he,  at  the  same  time,  both  made  it  ours,  and 
added  to  its  original  value  an  infinity  of  worth  ;  an 
act  by  which  he  created  tor  the  world  a  truth  incom¬ 
parably  more  precious  than  aught  which  the  ark 
contained — that  the  richest  gilt,  and  the  costiiest 
sacrifice,  have  been  seleeted  by  God,  as  the  only  ad¬ 
equate  expression  of  his  love  to  man. 

Our  redemption  by  Christ  is  an  exhibition  of 
grace  which  God  himself  cannot  surpass:  unexpect¬ 
ed  developments  of  its  relations  and  glories  will,  no 
doubt,  through  eternity  be  constantly  rising  to  view, 
and  maintaining  for  it  a  character  of  ever  new  and 
increasing  interest ;  our  conceptions  of  its  excellence 
will  be  continually  receiving  fresh  accessions;  but 
while  its  future  glory  may  surpass  its  present  in  the 
eyes  of  the  redeemed,  God,  if  1  may  be  allow'ed  to 
say  so,  the  blessed  God  has  deprived  himself  of  the 
power  of  ever  eclipsing  that  glory  by  exhibiting  to 


108 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER. 


the  universe  a  richer  display  of  love.  But  well  may 
his  infinite  mind  be  satisfied  with  this  as  his  crown¬ 
ing  work ;  for  he  has  now  demonstrated  to  all  his 
intelligent  creation,  that  there  is  no  love  but  his. 

YJI.  But  the  Saviour  had  not  yet  completed  his  rep¬ 
resentation  of  the  divine  character.  He  had  rolled 
away  the  thick  darkness  from  before  the  throne  of 
God,  and  had  revealed  him  to  the  world  as  light  and 
love  ;  but  it  remained  to  attemper  the  radiance  of  the 
light,  and  to  soften  and  humanize  the  love.  As  long 
as  we  remain  immersed  in  sense,  we  must  be  indebt¬ 
ed  for  all  our  conceptions  to  sensible  objects  ;  hence 
the  purest  and  most  abstract  of  human  sciences  has 
its  diagrams ;  and  ^Christianity  the  most  spiritual 
form  of  religion,  employs  its  symbols.  The  same 
necessity  has,  in  every  age,  expressed  itself  in  ardent 
desires  for  sensible  manifestations  of  the  Divine 
Being.  The  entreaty  of  Moses,  “  I  beseech  thee 
show  me  thy  glory,”  was  again  repeated  by  Philip, 
when  he  said  “  Show  us  the  Father,  and  it  suffi- 
ceth  us  and  both  requests  were  only  the  echo  of 
a  universal  desire  ;  a  desire  of  the  mind  for  some¬ 
thing  to  sustain  it  in  its  most  etherial  of  efforts,  its 
endeavors  to  think  of  God. 

Another  necessity  requiring  to  be  met  was  the  ex¬ 
aggerated  fears  of  the  penitent  sinner,  when  inter¬ 
preting  the  rectoral  office  of  the  Father  in  the  cov¬ 
enant  of  grace,  into  a  proof  of  his  avenging  inexor¬ 
ableness.  In  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  the  con¬ 
stant  reference  which  is  necessarily  made  to  his  just 
requirements  in  maintaining  the  rights  of  Deity,  is 
extremely  liable  to  produce  on  a  mind,  perturbed 
with  guilt,  an  impression  of  dread,  which  no  mere 
abstract  descriptions  of  the  love  of  God  can  effectu¬ 
ally  remove  ;  which  makes  it  impossible  to  speak  of 
that  love  in  terms  of  excess.  Now,  of  both  these 
necessities,  the  Saviour  took  special  cognizance ; 
against  each  of  them  he  fully  provided  when,  stand¬ 
ing  forth  before  the  eye  of  the  world,  he  proclaimed 
himself  the  perfect  representative  of  the  Father; 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


109 


and  in  that  capacity,  challenged  for  the  Father,  the 
confidence,  and  affection,  and  cordial  allegiance  of 
mankind.  “  I  am  in  the  Father,  said  he,  and  the  Fa¬ 
ther  is  in  me  .  .  .  .  “  from  henceforth  ye  know  him, 
and  have  seen  him.  Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord, 
show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us.  Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and 
yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father  ;  and  how  sayest  thou 
then,  Show  us  the  Father?  Believest  thou  not  that 
I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me  ?  .  .  .  .  the 
Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works. 
Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in 
me  :  or  else  believe  me  for  the  very  work’s  sake.”  “  I 
and  my  Father  are  one.” 

Instead  of  leaving  our  faith  to  apprehend  an  in¬ 
finite  abstraction,  he  has,  in  his  owm  person,  invested 
the  Deity  with  that  power  over  our  minds  which  a 
definite  object  alone  can  exercise.  Instead  of  claim¬ 
ing  our  affections  merely  for  the  invisible  and  impal¬ 
pable  cause  of  mercy,  he  wrestles  with  our  fears,  and 
challenges  our  embracing  affections,  by  protesting 
that  there  is  no  feature  to  be  loved  in  himself,  which 
is  not  equally  to  be  loved  in  the  character  of  God ; 
that  if  we  admire  the  tenderness  and  compassion  of 
his  character,  we  are  admiring  the  very  same  qual¬ 
ities  in  the  Father ;  that  we  do  injustice  to  his 
representative  character,  if  we  do  not  receive  it  en¬ 
tire  as  a  perfect  reduplication  of  the  mind  of  God. 
He  would  have  us  to  believe,  and  to  act  on  the  be¬ 
lief,  that  so  far  from  attempting  to  bribe  and  beguile 
our  affections  for  God,  by  expressing  for  us  a  kind¬ 
ness  to  which  the  heart  of  God  does  not  respond,  he 
could  not  have  omitted  a  single  expression  of  that  kind¬ 
ness  without  giving  us  a  defective  idea  of  the  divine 
benevolence  ;  that  so  utterly  impossible  would  it  be 
for  him  to  give  us  an  exaggerated  conception  of  that 
benevolence,  that  could  we  by  any  process  collect 
and  concentrate  all  the  varied  expressions  of  his 
grace  to  a  focal  point,  and  receive  the  effect  of  the 


110 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


whole  entire,  and  at  once,  that  effect,  after  all,  would 
be  a  bare  and  inadequate  expression  of  the  love  of 
God  to  man.  Whatever  doctrine  of  grace  he  pro¬ 
pounds,  whatever  promise  he  gives,  whatever  deed 
of  love  he  performs,  whatever  divine  attractions  he 
exhibits, — every  such  attraction  in  him  is  to  be  re¬ 
garded  as  an  index  to  the  same  quality  indefinitely 
greater  in  the  character  of  God.  The  conduct  of 
Christ  is  a  copy,  a  living  map  of  the  immense  ex¬ 
panse  of  the  divine  perfections,  reduced  from  its  infi¬ 
nite  dimensions,  and  subdued  to  a  scale  studiously 
adapted  to  the  feeble  vision  of  man.  The  character 
of  God,  so  infinitely  reduced,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  life 
of  Christ ;  the  excellences  of  Christ,  if  infinitely 
magnified  and  restored  to  their  original  proportions, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  perfections  of  God.  The 
character  of  Christ  is  the  conception  of  a  being  of 
infinite  amiableness,  seeking  to  engage  the  heart  of  a 
world  that  reasons  by  analogy,  and  to  enamor  it 
of  divine  excellence.  How  often  did  he  authenti¬ 
cate  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  give  it  currency  as  a  copy 
of  his  own.  Had  the  Almighty  Father  veiled  his 
glories,  and  dwelt  among  us,  the  history  which  now 
belongs  to  Christ  would  have  related,  word  for  word, 
his  own  condescending'  grace  ;  so  that,  in  every 
word  and  act  of  Jesus,  we  are  to  rcognize,  in  effect, 
the  voice  and  movements  of  paternal  love. 

In  the  person  of  Christ  we  behold  the  eternal  God 
engaged  in  an  enterprise  of  boundless  mercy.  To 
aid  our  conceptions  of  his  being,  he  clothed  his 
spirituality  in  the  vestments  of  humanity.  To  con¬ 
vince  us  that  an  unlimited  concern  for  our  souls  may 
coexist  with  the  utmost  hatred  of  our  sins,  he  shows 
us  that  the  river  of  the  water  of  life  takes  its  rise  un¬ 
der  his  throne  ;  he  plants  a  cross,  and  provides  a  sac¬ 
rifice,  and  enacts  before  the  world  a  prodigy  of  mer¬ 
cy,  of  which  this  is  the  only  adequate  solution,  that 
he  so  loved  us.  That  no  unwarranted  apprehensions 
of  his  greatness  might  efface  this  impression  of  liis 
love  from  our  minds,  that  all  suspicion  and  distrust 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


Ill 


might  be  made  impossible,  be  shows  that  be  can 
stoop  from  an  act  which  saves  a  world,  to  number 
the  very  hairs  of  our  head  ;  that  his  regard  for  the 
whole  comprises  a  regard  for  each  infinitesimal  part; 
so  that  whatever  has  the  power  of  raising  an  emo¬ 
tion  in  our  breast,  acquires,  by  that  circumstance,  if 
by  nothing  else,  sufficient  importance  to  receive  his 
sympathetic  attention.  Disrobed  of  his  essential 
glory,  unattended  by  the  train  and  state  of  heaven,  as 
if  earth  was  to  be  henceforth  his  adopted  home,  he 
came  evidently  attired  for  a  purpose  of  love  ;  ming¬ 
led  in  our  common  cares,  and  inscribed  his  name  on 
every  object  which  speaks  to  the  human  heart. 
The  cup  of  sorrow  never  passed  him  untasted  ;  often 
did  he  exhaust  the  distasteful  draught  himself,  and 
return  the  cup  of  gladness  in  its  stead.  The  human 
heart,  in  his  hands,  might  have  become  a  saored 
harp,  every  chord  of  which  should  have  sent  forth 
none  hut  heavenly  music.  The  history  of  his  labors 
of  love,  is  the  shame  and  condemnation  of  unbelief, 
the  argument  of  faith  and  hope,  the  standing  memo¬ 
rial  of  his  claims  on  the  undoubting  trust  of  a  de¬ 
pendent  world  :  for  it  presents  him,  not  barely  fulfill¬ 
ing  the  conditions  of  our  redemption,  but  far  exceed¬ 
ing  them  ;  going  beyond  the  complement  of  grace  ; 
overflowing  in  supererogatory  acts  of  beneficence ; 
and  anticipating  the  tender  offices  propejr  to  heaven, 
by  beginning  even  here  to  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
all  faces. 

VIII.  Having  restored  our  confidence  in  the  divine 
character,  the  Saviour  sought  to  complete  our  love  to 
God,  by  teaching  us  to  address  him  by  a  new  name ; 
a  name  which  should  be  at  once  a  sign  of  our  affec¬ 
tion  to  him,  and  a  pledge  of  his  tender  regard  and 
relationship  to  us.  He  knew  that  the  name  which  is 
entwined  with  the  dearest  associations  of  the  human 
heart,  is  also  the  name  which  hath  most  music  in  the 
ear  of  God — and  therefore  he  selected  and  encourag- 
ed  us  to  employ  it — the  endearing  appellation  of  Fa¬ 
ther.  And  that  we  might  not  be  deterred  from  taking 


112 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

it  into  our  lips  by  the  fear  of  presumption,  lie  contin¬ 
ues  to  repeat  it,  again  and  again,  until  it  has  become 
familiar  to  our  ear.  Thus  instructed  and  encouraged, 
he  leads  us  through  a  new  and  living  way,  every  step 
of  which  is  hung  with  emblems  of  paternal  love, 
adorned  with  memorials  of  redeeming  grace  ;  con¬ 
ducts  us  into  the  holiest  of  all,  even  to  our  Father’s 
throne ;  reveals  him  there  surrounded  with  all  the 
heaped  and  opulent  resources  of  infinite  grace; 
and  then,  in  order  that  our  confidence  and  love 
might  find  speech,  and  our  poverty  loose  itself  in 
boundless  wealth,  he  adds,  “  Ask,  and  ye  shall  re¬ 
ceive.”  “  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children  ;  how  much  more  shall  your 
heavenly  Father  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that 
ask  him.” 

It  will  then,  I  think,  be  conceded  that  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  Supreme  Being,  as  it  came  from  the  hands 
of  Christ,  was  an  original  subject,  a  new  gift  to  the 
world.  It  was  new  in  the  universal  aspect  of  benev¬ 
olence  which  it  bears  towards  man ;  as  opposed  to 
those  limited  conceptions  of  his  goodness  which 
were  cherished,  if  not  propagated,  by  the  Jewish 
economy :  new  in  its  mode  of  exemplification ;  for 
it  was  seen,  not  in  the  works  of  nature,  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  providence,  or  the  rites  of  religion,  but  in 
the  living  incarnation,  the  real  and  visible  person  of 
his  only  begotten  Son :  new  in  its  bestowments ;  for 
hitherto,  however  rich  his  gifts  to  his  church  had 
been,  he  had  always  accompanied  them  with  an  as¬ 
surance  that  he  had  yet  a  gift  in  reserve  in  which  all 
good  would  be  summed  up ;  and  however  various 
they  had  been,  they  all  bore  some  resemblance  and 
relation  to  each  other,  in  value,  at  least,  if  in  nothing 
else  ;  but  now  in  the  person  of  Christ  he  bestowed 
the  promised  gift,  eclipsed  his  former  grace,  and  con¬ 
ferred  a  donation,  which,  as  it  was  perfectly  original, 
so  it  can  never  be  repeated  or  equalled  ;  since  every 
subsequent  donation  is  only  a  consequence  and  part 
of  the  gift,  and  eternity  itself  will  be  necessary  for 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


113 


the  full  development  of  all  it  contains:  new  in  its 
paternal  aspect ;  not  merely  representing  him  as  our 
Father,  but  teaching  us  to  address  him  as  such ;  to 
regard  him  as  the  fountain  of  all  that  parental  affec¬ 
tion  which  has  flown  down,  generation  after  genera¬ 
tion,  through  the  channel  of  human  hearts  ;  and  to 
believe  that  all  the  pity,  compassion,  and  love,  which 
he  has  ever  poured  through  parental  natures,  are  as 
nothing  compared  with  what  resides  in  his  own 
heart ;  that  however  much  he  may  have  imparted, 
infinitely  more,  a  reserved  ocean,  must  ever  remain 
behind  in  himself ;  and  that  all  this  is  in  perpetual 
activity,  interesting  itself  in  the  wants,  and  providing 
for  the  happiness  of  his  people :  and  new,  also,  in 
the  mode  of  its  future  connection  with  man,  through 
a  Mediator ;  for  since  Christ  came  to  declare  the 
Father  unto  us,  it  is  the  exalted  privilege  of  believ¬ 
ers  to  contemplate  God  in  Christ,  to  approach  his 
throne  in  the  name,  and  relying  on  the  successful  in¬ 
tercession  of  Christ. 

“  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  thou 
hast  sent,”  Knowledge,  of  all  kinds,  is  the  wealth 
proper  to  a  rational  nature ;  but  to  captivate  us  with 
the  knowledge  of  God,  our  Lord  declares  that  this  is 
the  only  science  which  conducts  to  happiness,  the  only 
wealth  which  can  be  converted  into  vmfading  crowns 
and  eternal  life.  As  the  whole  of  celestial  blessed¬ 
ness  is  often,  in  scripture,  made  to  consist  in  the 
vision  of  God ;  so  the  whole  of  religion  on  earth,  is 
represented  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge  of  him. 
Because,  first,  all  sin  originates  in  ignorance  of  God ; 
that  is,  it  is  indebted  for  its  existence  to  the  absence 
of  God,  temporary  or  habitual,  from  the  mind ;  it 
triumphs  most  where  he  is  most  completely  un¬ 
known,  or  forgotten ;  it  could  not  lift  up  its  deformi¬ 
ty,  with  the  hope  of  being  loved,  in  the  strong  light 
of  his  glorious  presence.  Because,  secondly,  were 
the  mind  discharged  and  clear  of  all  the  obstructions 
of  sin,  it  would  be  only  necessary  for  it  to  see  God, 
10* 


114 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


in  order  to  be  supremely  enamored  of  him ;  the 
bare  perception  of  his  image,  as  portrayed  by 
Christ,  would  alone  be  sufficient  to  change  the  soul, 
by  mere  intensity  of  love,  into  the  same  image. 
And  because,  thirdly,  although  the  mind  is  filled  with 
hostile  influences,  it  is  only  necessary  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  bring  him  before  it,  to  place  his  character 
advantageously  before  its  eye,  and  the  sight  attracts, 
subdues,  ceases  not  to  operate,  till  it  has  transformed 
the  soul  into  its  own  likeness. 

Is  it  then  producing  this  saving  effect  upon  us  P  or 
is  the  vast  and  glorious  conception  of  God  inhabit¬ 
ing  our  minds  to  no  purpose  ?  Shall  the  knowledge 
of  God,  which  Jesus  Christ  came  from  heaven  to  im¬ 
part,  remain  in  our  possession,  through  a  whole  life, 
as  a  dead  and  useless  thing  ?  have  we  nothing  of  less 
moment  to  sport  with,  that  we  must  needs  trifle  with 
this  ?  shall  it  at  last  be  reckoned  our  greatest  curse, 
that  we  knew  the  blessed  God  ?  We  cannot  even 
glance  an  inquiring  look  towards  him,  but  Jesus  ad¬ 
vances  to  encourage  the  act,  saying,  “  To  know  him 
is  life  eternal.”  We  cannot  place  ourselves  in  the 
pleasant  beams  of  his  light,  cannot  be  conscious  of  a 
single  emotion  of  admiration  of  bis  character,  but 
Jesus  addresses  himself  to  our  rising  hopes,  and 
says,  “  Y ou  can  be  like  him ;  you  may  even  resemble 
the  blessed  God ;  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect.”  We  cannot  cherish  a  desire,  or 
breathe  a  sigh  for  conformity,  but  the  Holy  Spirit 
forthwith  begins  to  transcribe  his  will  on  the  inner 
man,  to  abridge  and  to  epitomise  his  likeness  on  the 
heart  in  the  process  of  regeneration.  God,  who 
commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  is 
willing  to  shine  into  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  his  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


IIIS  ORIGINALITY. 


115 


SECTION  II. — CONCERNING  HIMSELF. 

“  No  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father.” 

“  I,”  said  Christ,  “  am  the  light  of  the  world :  ”  he 
arose  on  the  world,  an  object  as  wonderful  and 
new  in  his  person  and  office,  as  the  sun  when 
it  first  took  rank  among  the  stars  of  heaven  ;  and, 
like  the  solar  light,  while  pouring  a  flood  of  radiance 
on  every  thing  else,  he  remains  himself  a  glorious 
mystery.  Notwithstanding  the  diversified  dreams  in 
which  the  world  had  for  ages  indulged  concerning 
his  person  and  advent ;  and  all  the  materials  for 
fancy  to  work  with,  supplied  by  the  paintings  of 
prophecy ;  and  the  significant  shadows  which  provi¬ 
dence  had  thrown  before  ;  his  appearance  at  last 
took  mankind  by  surprise  :  a  surprise  for  which  the 
world  avenged  itself,  by  arming  against  him  and  all 
who  should  afterwards  assume  his  badge ;  but  a 
surprise  which  overwhelmed  the  church  with  a 
measure  of  gratitude  and  delight  to  which  it  has  ever 
since  been  giving  expression,  and  the  full  utterance 
of  which  it  reserves  for  a  world  where  its  strains, 
relieved  from  all  interruption,  shall  be  swelled  and 
aided  by  all  the  harps  of  God. 

The  supernatural  truths  by  which  he  is  described 
are  so  early  instilled  into  our  minds,  that  we  ought 
not  tobe  able  to  remember  the  time  when  first  we  heard 
them ;  and,  having  become  so  familiar  to  us,  it  re¬ 
quires  a  considerable  mental  effort  to  realize  the 
thought,  that  they  were  ever  original.  But  though 
the  human  mind  had  been  for  ages  training  to  re¬ 
ceive  him,  he  found  himself,  on  becoming  man,  a 
stranger  in  a  world  of  strangers. 

Judging  from  the  conduct  of  his  disciples,  the 
Mosaic  economy  does  not  appear  to  have  given  them 
a  single  correct  presentiment  concerning  him.  His 


116  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

character  and  claims  were  so  perfectly  unique,  that 
although  their  religion  was  instituted  expressly  to 
be  his  analogue — and  it  was  the  only  thing  in  the 
world  which  did  represent  him — yet  they  did  not  at 
first  perceive  a  single  point  of  coincidence.  Every 
truth  which  he  uttered  respecting  himself  fell  on 
their  ear  with  the  strangeness  of  a  new  revelation  ; 
and  instead  of  being  received  into  their  minds  with 
the  welcome  of  an  expected  guest,  had  to  create  a 
place  for  itself,  or  to  wait  till  they  could  feel  them¬ 
selves  reconciled  to  the  novelty.  They  were  not, 
indeed,  wanting  in  occasional  confessions  and  as¬ 
criptions,  which  satisfied  his  claims,  and  called  forth 
his  approbation  ;  but  much  of  this  homage  was  invol¬ 
untarily  won  by  some  sudden  escape  qf  his  glory, 
some  surprising  display  of  his  greatness ;  and  the 
frequent  inconsistencies  in  their  conduct,  by  which 
that  homage  was  in  a  sense  recalled  or  neutralized, 
showed,  that  though  a  new  disturbing  power  was  at 
work  within  them,  it  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  ac¬ 
quiring  the  dominion  of  principle  and  conviction. 

Nor  was  it  till  after  his  return  to  heaven  that  they 
began  to  appreciate  aright  the  claims  of  the  illustri¬ 
ous  visitant.  Then,  when  the  excitement  attending 
the  vision  began  to  subside,  they  found  they  had 
been  entertaining  the  Lord  of  angels  unawares : 
then,  when  the  Spirit  brought  all  things  to  their 
remembrance ;  when  the  words  of  Christ  were  once 
more  repeated  in  their  ears,  and  the  wonders  of  his 
life  were  made  to  pass  in  slow  and  stately  procession 
before  their  eyes,  they  awoke  as  from  a  trance,  and 
proclaimed  that  the  Word  had  been  made  flesh,  and 
dwelt  among  us,  and  that  they  had  beheld  his  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.  At  the  dictation  of  the  Spirit,  they 
proceeded  to  record  a  sketch  of  his  life  :  but  they 
labored  at  no  enconium  ;  they  left  that  life  to  speak 
for  itself ;  they  felt  that  in  simply  uttering  the  name 
of  Jesus,  they  were  repeating  a  name  for  all  that  is 
transcendant  in  humanity,  and  all  that  is  glorious  in 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


117 


Deity.  Henceforth  they  sought  to  atone  for  their 
past  misapprehensions  of  him  by  confessing  and  re¬ 
cording  those  misapprehensions  to  their  own  con¬ 
demnation  ;  by  showing  to  the  world  that  he  had 
displaced  every  other  idea  of  greatness  from  their 
minds;  and  that,  if  while  proclaiming  his  worth  to 
others,  they  were  called  to  die  for  his  sake,  it  was 
the  highest  honor  to  which  they  aspired.  The  vis¬ 
ion  which  John  beheld  of  him,  when  he  saw  in  the 
midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  one  like  unto 
the  Son  of  man,  was  only,  in  one  sense,  an  image  of 
his  surpassing  glory,  as  he  was  continually  present 
to  the  minds  of  them  all. 

I.  Looking  at  the  outline  of  our  Saviour’s  charac¬ 
ter,  which  ancient  prophecy  had  sketched,  and  com¬ 
paring  it  with  the  more  finished  portrait  which  he 
drew  of  himself,  it  is  obvious  that,  even  supposing 
the  former  had  taken  full  effect  on  the  minds  of  his 
disciples,  there  was  yet  so  much  of  originality  in  the 
•  additions  of  the  latter,  that  they  could  scarcely  fail  to 
contemplate  it  without  receiving  an  impression  of 
entire  novelty.  The  pen  of  inspiration  had  recorded 
that  his  goings  forth  had  been  from  everlasting  :  in 
illustration  of  this  sublime  truth,  he  raised  the  veil 
of  the  past  eternity,  carried  back  their  thoughts 
through  dateless  ages  before  the  world  began,  to¬ 
wards  the  unimaginable  and  awful  place  where  God 
dwells,  assuring  them  that  there  never  was  a  period 
when  he  was  not  there  ;  there,  as  an  object  of  infinite 
complacency;  there,  in  a  fellowship  of  glory  with 
Deity  ;  there,  in  an  identity  of  character,  and  unity  of 
essence,  a  mutual  intuition  comprising  knowledge 
which  no  created  mind  can  be  made  to  comprehend : 
that  he,  to  whose  human  voice  they  were  then  listen¬ 
ing,  had  there  seen  the  cycles  of  eternity  revolve,  the 
ages  of  time  expire,  the  fathers  of  their  nation  and 
the  lights  of  their  church,  many  kings,  and  prophets, 
and  righteous  men,  fill  up  the  measure  of  their  days  ; 
and  that  thence  he  had  actually  come  forth  and  de¬ 
scended,  to  save  the  world. 


118 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

Prophecy,  indeed,  had  accustomed  them  to  expect 
in  Christ  a  quality  of  natures,  and  a  consequent  mys¬ 
teriousness  of  character  and  person  which  would 
entitle  him  to  be  called  Wonderful.  But  what  imagin¬ 
ation  was  prepared,  even  by  this  exciting  prediction, 
for  the  great  reality.  It  is  true,  a  herald  was  sent 
before  to  call  the  attention  of  the  world,  and  to  place 
it  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  his  coming ;  but, 

“  should  he  condescend  to  speak  of  himself,”  it  might 
have  been  said,  “  By  what  mental  revolution,  what 
new  combination  of  thought,  shall  we  prepare  to  un¬ 
derstand  him  P  Perhaps,  however,  he  may  maintain  a 
reserve  on  this  subject ;  a  regard  for  our  limited  ca¬ 
pacity,  and  the  peculiar  object  of  his  mission,  may 
induce  him  to  hold  the  mysteries  of  his  nature  in 
abeyance.”  And  he  did  so.  He  frequently  made  it 
apparent  that  his  object  was  not  to  expound  the  com¬ 
plexity  of  his  nature,  but  to  pour  into  the  heart  of  the 
world  the  entire  advantage  which  that  complexity 
was  capable  of  producing ;  and  that,  as  he  had  stoop-  • 
ed  to  the  low  conditions  of  humanity,  he  sought  not 
tenaciously  to  assert  the  dignity  of  his  superior 
claims,  but  considered  his  humiliation  as  consisting 
partly  in  dwelling  on  the  degradation  to  which  he 
had  stooped.  But  though  he  frequently  waived  the 
subject  in  question,  yet  as  often  as  necessity  urged 
him  to  advert  to  it,  he  must  be  confessed  to  have  ut¬ 
tered  “  a  new  thing  in  the  earth.”  We  are  in  the  full 
and  familiar  possession  of  his  sayings  :  but  had  we 
heard  him  when  first  he  declared,  “No  man  hath 
ascended  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from 
heaven,  even  the  Son  of  man  who  is  in  heaven ;” 

“  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am  ;”  should  we  not  have 
felt  that  we  were  listening  to  a  being  to  whom  all 
space  is  a  point,  and  all  time  but  a  moment ;  that  our 
thoughts  could  not  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  and 
boundless  transitions  his  words  required  ;  that  he 
was  approaching  a  subject  which  the  limited  terms, 
and  analogical  language  of  human  speech  have  no 
signs  to  represent,  no  powers  to  convey ;  a  subject 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


ny 


of  which  our  minds,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  the 
mere  parts  of  things,  to  fractional  thoughts,  and  frag¬ 
ments  of  truth,  could  receive  only,  at  most,  an 
angular  point,  a  very  obscure  glimpse  and  confused 
impression  ? 

Had  we  heard  him  affirm,  in  the  face  of  his  evi¬ 
dent  humanity,  that  he  was  not  of  this  world ;  that 
we  knew  not  whence  he  came  or  whither  he  went ; 
that  the  Father  alone,  as  a  being  of  infinite  intuition, 
knew  him  to  perfection ;  should  we  not  have  felt 
that  we  were  listening  to  blasphemy,  or  else  to  the 
only  being  incapable  of  blasphemy,  because  he  alone 
can  be  the  object  of  it ;  that  a  principle  of  interpreta¬ 
tion,  hitherto  unknown  to  the  world  must  be  found 
and  applied  to  his  self  descriptions,  a  principle  which 
may  well  be  sacred  to  that  purpose  alone,  since  the 
language  of  no  other  being  will  need  its  application  ? 
Could  we  have  heard  him  forgiving  sins  ;  asserting 
his  right  to  do  so,  “  even  upon  earth  summoning 
the  world  to  yield  up  its  heart  to  him;  to  make  its 
homage  to  the  Father  a  pattern  of  its  homage  to  him  ; 
could  we  have  heard  this  without  feeling  that  God 
must  be  present  in  the  person  of  the  mysterious 
speaker,  that  the  throne  of  Deity  must  be,  in  a  sense, 
removed  from  heaven  to  earth  ?  Could  we  have 
heard  him  emphatically  call  himself  the  Son  of  man, 
and  solemnly  announce  that  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  the  Father  is  greater  than  lie,  without  feeling 
that  it  was  an  announcement  which  a  mere  creature 
could  never  have  thought  it  necessary  to  make,  and 
wondering  at  the  greatness  which  could  excuse  and 
justify  such  statements  ? 

Had  we  been  the  individuals  to  whose  retirement 
under  the  fig-tree  he  was  privy  ;  whose  history  he 
disclosed  at  the  well  of  Samaria ;  to  whose  unutter¬ 
ed  thoughts  he  often  adverted  and  replied,  as  others 
reply  to  our  words,  and  to  whom  he  pledged  his 
unceasing  presence,  wherever  we  might  be  scatter¬ 
ed,  or  whenever  we  might  meet ;  should  we  not 
have  felt  the  natural  impossibility  of  leaving  the 


120 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


presence  of  such  a  being,  and  have  yielded  to  the  im¬ 
pressive  thought,  the  unavoidable  inference,  that  he 
who  stood  before  us  in  mysterious  combination  with 
a  nature  like  our  own,  wras  at  the  same  moment 
present,  in  his  superior  naturb,  in  regions  immeas¬ 
urably  remote  from  earth — the  sovereign  and  uncir¬ 
cumscribed  energy  of  the  universe  ?  He  defended 
his  alledged  breach  of  the  sabbatic  law,  by  affirming 
that  in  his  providential  capacity,  like  the  eternal 
Father,  he  knew  no  sabbath  ;  that  as  the  soundness 
of  the  man  he  had  restored  was  the  result  of  his 
healing  power,  so  the  repose  of  the  universe  was  the 
result  of  his  unintermitting  activity  conjointly  with 
the  .  Father.  With  the  same  unaffected  simplicity 
and  ease,  he  both  acknowledged  inferiority  to  God, 
and  claimed  equality  with  him  ;  and  promised  to 
every  Christian,  in  the  Father’s  name,  “We  will 
come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him.”  Now 
could  we  have  heard  these  new  and  diverse  state¬ 
ments  frohi  his  lips,  without  feeling  that  the  being 
who  advanced  them  was  a  new  form  of  existence  ; 
that  in  his  person,  time  and  eternity,  infinity  and 
limitation,  laws  the  most  opposite,  met  and  were 
reconciled ;  that  we  beheld  in  him  the  grand  anom¬ 
aly  of  infinite  majesty  clothed  with  meekness ;  su¬ 
preme  dominion  rendering  obedience ;  absolute 
sovereignty,  exhibiting  entire  resignation  ;  God,  man¬ 
ifest  in  the  flesh  ? 

Prophecy  had  created  the  expectation  of  an  illus¬ 
trious  Deliverer,  for  whom  a  class  of  descriptive 
names  had  been  hallowed,  and  for  ages  embalmed, 
and  set  apart,  as  sacred  to  him  alone.  The  Mes¬ 
siah,  or  Christ ;  the  Son  of  man  ;  the  Son  of  God ;  were 
apellations  as  incommunicable,  if  not  as  awful,  as 
the  solemn  Jah,  or  Jehovah ,  of  the  Supreme  Being ; 
for  they  described  a  person  and  an  office  of  an  order 
so  entirely  unique,  as  to  make  all  participation  or 
resemblance  impossible,  by  engrossing  to  itself  every 
thing  peculiar  to  it.  Jesus  came,  appropriated  these 
honors  to  himself  as  his  proper  right,  and  wore  them 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


121 


with  such  an  air  of  accordant  ease  as  to  make  them 
his  own,  with  such  a  port  of  unlabored  majesty  as  to 
translate  them  into  an  obvious  and  sober  description 
of  himself.  If  his  right  to  assume  them  was  chal¬ 
lenged,  his  defence  was  prompt  and  complete  ;  he 
pleaded  the  sublimity  of  his  doctrine  ;  appealed  to 
the  superiority  of  his  life  ;  referred  to  the  admitted 
testimony  of  the  Baptist ;  pointed  attention  to  the 
voice  from  heaven ;  invited  a  comparison  of  his  his¬ 
tory  with  the  prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah, 
declaring  that  his  life  would  be  found  to  be  a  faithful 
comment  on  the  sacred  text ;  and  called  for  bis  mir¬ 
acles — a  splendid  array  of  evidence,  which  forced 
even  from  demons  the  unwilling  recognition  of  his 
claims,  and  left  unbelief  without  any  cloak  for  its  sin. 

II.  Thus  warranted  by  the  constitution  of  his  per¬ 
son,  and  standing  on  a  mountainous  accumulation  of 
evidence,  which  enabled  him  to  speak  as  from  the 
skies,  he  proposed  himself  to  our  affection  and  faith 
as  the  unveiled  character  of  God.  This  may  be 
regarded  as  his  grand,  original  and  all-comprehend¬ 
ing  claim. 

1.  Were  it  revelant  to  our  subject,  we  might  show, 
first,  that  the  actions  of  Jesus  evinced  the  existence 
of  God.  Had  man  never  previously  heard,  never 
entertained  the  conceptions  of  a  Supreme  Being,  the 
miracles  of  Christ  would  have  inevitably  suggested 
and  embodied  the  grand  idea.  But  he  appeared 
among  a  people  with  whom  this  was  already  a  pri¬ 
mary  truth.  Besides,  the  scripture  has  nothing  to 
say  to  the  man  who  denies  it;  only  this,  that  it  is 
“  the  fool  who  saith  in  his  heart,  there  is  no  God 
and,  “that  the  devils  believe  and  tremble.”  The 
existence  of  the  Deity  is  a  truth  fundamental  of  every 
other ;  it  is  the  throne  of  religion  :  and  it  would  ill 
comport  with  the  composed  majesty  and  stately 
grandeur  of  religion  to  be  constantly  proving  or  pro¬ 
testing  that  it  lias  a  throne.  He  who  denies  the 
divine  existence,  renounces  by  that  very  act  his  own 
humanity ;  falls  out  of  the  ranks  of  rational  beings, 
11 


122 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


and  courts  community  and  fellowship  with  brutes. 
Accordingly,  religion  while  it  condescends  to  follow 
him  to  the  outermost  limits  of  rationality,  and  thus 
maintains  its  character  for  compassion  ;  yet  remem¬ 
bering  the  state  and  honors  due  to  its  throne,  it 
abandons  him  there,  and  proceeding  in  its  onward 
march  through  an  empire  of  intelligent  beings,  re¬ 
ceives  their  homage,  and  perfects  their  intelligence, 
by  reuniting  it  with  the  divine  mind. 

2.  As  the  representative  of  Deity  in  this  lower 
world,  the  Saviour  by  his  incarnation,  embodied  the 
divine  spirituality.  “  Ye  have  neither  heard  his  voice 
at  any  time,”  said  Christ,  “  nor  seen  his  shape 
outline,  dimensions,  he  has  none  ;  as  an  infinite  spir¬ 
it  he  can  have  none.  How  then  can  we  think  of  him  ? 
for  unless  we  can  obtain  some  sensible  manifesta¬ 
tion,  or  definite  conception  of  him,  we  have  nothing 
around  which  our  thoughts  can  collect,  or  on  which 
our  affections  can  settle  and  rest ;  he  will  elude  and 
escape  our  laboring  apprehensions.  It  is  in  vain  to 
allege,  that  the  sublimest  material  representation  can 
bear  no  proportion  to  his  glory,  no  relation  to  his 
nature  ;  and,  consequently,  that  it  could  not  fail  to 
impart  to  the  mind  unworthy  conceptions  of  his 
greatness.  Without  some  sensible  representation  of 
the  divine  being,  the  understanding  can  make  no  ap¬ 
proach  to  him,  the  affections  have  nothing  to  em¬ 
brace  :  faith  itself  like  the  dove  of  the  deluge,  has 
nothing  on  which  it  can  alight ;  it  finds  itself  voyag¬ 
ing  in  an  objectless  universe,  an  infinite  vacuity  ;  and 
piety  must  suffer  and  pine  as  in  an  atmosphere  too 
subtle  and  unsubstantial  for  its  present  earthly  con¬ 
stitution. 

This  feeling  of  w  ant,  this  ardent  craving  after  a 
definite  object  which  the  mind  can  lay  hold  of  and 
apprehend,  has  been  the  most  frequent  occasion  of 
idolatry  and  atheism.  The  doctrine  of  an  infinite 
spirit  was  the  only  pure  abstraction  in  the  human 
mind :  all  other  things  were  objects ;  had  their  appro¬ 
priate  images,  and  the  power  of  imprinting  them- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


123 


selves  upon  the  mind,  by  sensible  impressions ;  while 
this,  standing  in  the  mind  solitary  and  aloof,  subject 
to  the  antagonist  influence  and  constant  encroach¬ 
ment  of  material  objects,  was  unable  to  maintain  its 
ground,  and  in  perpetual  danger  of  being  displaced 
and  lost  from  the  mind.  And  hence  instead  of  mak¬ 
ing  this  doctrine  a  place  of  rest,  men  have  made  it  a 
startiug  point  to  one  of  two  extremes:  they  have  ei¬ 
ther  proceeded  to  refine  on  the  nature  of  the  Deity 
till  they  have  reached  transcendental  atheism,  an  infi¬ 
nite  nothing  ;  or  else,  advancing  in  the  opposite  di¬ 
rection,  they  have  brought  him  within  the  sphere  of 
the  senses,  and  embodied  him  in  the  work  of  their 
own  hands.  Every  erroneous  view  of  God  which 
the  world  has  entertained,  was  either  scepticism,  ar¬ 
rived  at  one  or  the  other  of  its  numerous  stages,  on 
its  way  to  atheism;  or  else,  it  was  idolatry  resting 
awhile,  at  one  or  other  of  its  stages  on  its  way  to 
the  opposite  issue.  From  the  moment  that  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  an  infinite  essence  has,  at  any  time,  been  de¬ 
posited  in  the  human  mind,  it  has  begun  to  evapo¬ 
rate  :  and  while  the  sceptic,  on  the  one  hand,  rejoic¬ 
ed  in  the  vacuum  which  ensued,  and  the  idolater,  in 
the  other,  found  or  feigned  a  residuum  which  he 
moulded  into  a  god  ;  they  both  concurred,  at  least  in 
this  one  sentiment — that  the  theory  of  an  infinite 
spirit  yields  no  response  to  the  intellect,  nor  object 
i  for  the  affections. 

Passing  by  the  peculiar  provisions  of  the  patriar¬ 
chal  church,  we  cannot  hesitate  to  regard  the  Jewish 
economy,  in  part,  as  a  temporary  but  elaborate  con¬ 
struction  for  aiding  the  mind  in  the  conceptions  of  a 
purely  spiritual  being.  All  the  angelic  visits,  and 
supernatural  appearances  with  which  that  church 
was  favored,  answered  this  end.  It  enjoyed  a  lo¬ 
cal  manifestation  of  the  Deity:  the  cloud  of  glo¬ 
ry  that  dwelt  within  the  veil,  resided  there  as  a  tem¬ 
porary  substitute  till  he  should  appear  in  whom 
should  dwell  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily ; 
and,  probably,  most  of  these  devotional  expressions, 


124  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

in  the  Old  Testament,  which  raise  our  thoughts  to 
heaven,  only  carried  the  thoughts  of  the  Israelites 
within  the  veil.  The  whole  of  their  worship  was  a 
presentiment  and  promise  of  the  approaching  mani¬ 
festation  of  God  in  Christ;  and  not  merely  a  promise 
of  it,  but  an  actual  provision  in  aiding  them  in  lift¬ 
ing  their  thoughts  to  God,  and  conceiving  of  the  di¬ 
vine  personality,  till  that  more  glorious  manifestation 
should  take  place. 

Behold,  in  Christ,  the  image  of  the  invisible  God ! 
Having  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  embodied 
the  attributes  of  God  in  an  incarnate  form,  he  came 
forth,  and  stood  before  the  world,  and  proclaimed 
himself  the  permanent,  adequate,  apprehensible  rep¬ 
resentation  of  the  invisible  Deity.  “  I  am  in  the 
Father,”  said  he,  “and  the  Father  in  me.”  “From 
henceforth  ye  know  the  Father,  and  have  seen  him.” 
“He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father  also.” 
“  I  and  my  Father  are  one.”  It  is  true,  that  he  is  no 
longer  cognizant  to  our  senses  ;  but  having  assumed 
an  incarnate  form,  is  evermore  visible  to  the  eye  of 
faith ;  he  can  never  ascend  beyond  the  flight  of  the 
sanctified  imagination.  And  if  imagination  bean  at¬ 
tribute  of  the  mind,  and  Christ  be  entitled  to  the 
homage  of  all  our  powers,  then  to  depicture  his  per¬ 
son  and  portray  his  glory,  is  not  merely  legitimate, 
but  the  most  suitable  and  exalted  object  on  which  it 
is  possible  for  the  imagination  to  be  employed.  When 
he  ascended  up,  “  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their 
sight,”  were  his  disciples  never  more  to  think  of  God 
as  manifest  in  the  flesh  ?  They  are  directed  to  look 
at  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  to  place  them  be¬ 
fore  their  mental  eye  in  the  most  vivid  imagery ;  and 
of  all  the  imaginable  and  illustrious  objects  in  the 
temple  above,  he  surely  stands  central  and  supreme. 
In  order  to  inflame  our  affections,  and  carry  our  im¬ 
aginations  with  him,  he  affords  us  glimpses  of  his  of¬ 
fices  and  relations  in  heaven,  and  prays  that  we  may 
behold  his  glory ;  thus  making  that  glory,  henceforth, 
the  appropriate  and  engrossing  object  of  evangelical 
faith. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


125 


Nor,  in  thus  yielding  to  the  dictates  of  piety,  and 
the  claims  of  Christ,  can  we  be  charged  with  wor¬ 
shiping  his  human  nature.  Though  that  nature  is 
exalted  above  the  whole  creation  ;  though  it  is  crown¬ 
ed  with  glory  and  honor  ;  though  the  .fullness  of  the 
Godhead  is  in  it ;  though  it  forms  even  a  part  of  the 
person  of  God,  yet  the  object  we  adore,  is  he  to 
whom  that  nature  is  hypostatically  united,  and  who 
stooped  to  that  union  expressly  that  he  might  be¬ 
come  a  more  palpable  and  definite  object  of  our  love. 
He  invites  us  to  draw  near  and  contemplate  this 
great  sight ;  and,  on  approaching,  we  behold  the  in¬ 
visible  God  invested  in  the  robes  of  humanity,  and 
emitting  a  glory  so  softened  and  subdued  that  our 
eyes  can  rest  on  it  without  dismay;  in  all  our  endeav¬ 
ors  to  raise  our  thoughts  to  God,  the  idea  of  Jesus 
comes  to  our  aid,  like  the  mystic  ladder  of  the 
patriarch’s  dream,  and  they  ascend  and  descend  up¬ 
on  the  Son  of  man.  In  all  our  acts  of  sincere  de¬ 
votion,  we  behold  him  by  faith,  standing  betwixt  us 
and  the  eternal  throne,  waiting  to  meet  our  flagging 
and  half-way  efforts,  to  assist  us  up  the  laborious  as¬ 
cent,  to  raise  and  present  our  spiritual  offerings  :  or, 
if  our  devotion  ascends  still  higher  to  him  that  sits 
upon  the  throne,  whom  do  we  there  behold  but  the 
image  of  the  still  invisible  God,  the  Lamb  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne.  He  is  the  great  ordinance  by 
which  God  and  man  commune  together ;  the  ap¬ 
pointed  place  of  meeting  between  God  and  human 
thoughts ;  for  as  all  the  lines  of  the  divine  manifes¬ 
tation  converge  and  meet  in  him,  so  all  our  devotion¬ 
al  thoughts  and  affections  centre  in  him  also.  And 
there  is,  we  think,  ground  to  believe  that  he  will  sus¬ 
tain  this  relation  forever  ;  that  whatever  may  be  the 
modification  of  the  present  economy,  when,  throw¬ 
ing  off  the  accidents  and  relations  of  time,  it  shall 
retain  only  the  elements  and  receive  the  impress  of 
eternity,  yet  he,  as  the  light  of  heaven  and  the  temple 
thereof,  will  remain  the  sole  manifestation  of  Deity, 
to  which  every  eye  will  be  directed  and  every  heart 
11* 


12G 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


be  drawn ;  that  no  angel  or  saint  will  ever  know 
aught  of  the  invisible  God,  but  as  it  is  brought  forth 
and  unveiled  in  the  adorable  person  of  Christ.  Of 
the  future  visibility  of  the  divine  essence,  indeed,  we 
would  speak  with  unaffected  diffidence:  but  the 
prayer  of  Christ,  that  his  people  may  be  with  him 
where  he  is  to  behold  his  glory,  while  it  discloses 
the  chief  ingredient  of  celestial  blessedness,  makes 
known  also  the  conspicuous  object  of  heavenly  con¬ 
templation.  By  adopting  our  nature  into  a  personal 
subsistence  with  his  own  divinity,  he  has  given  a 
centre,  if  we  may  say  so,  to  the  uncircumscribed  es¬ 
sence  of  the  Deity,  and  has  prepared  a  spectacle  for 
the  universe  resembling,  but  ineffably  transcending, 
the  angel  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  sun. 

3.  But  chiefly  did  he  rest  his  claims  to  the  regards 
of  the  world,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  adequate 
representative  of  the  divine  character.  The  condition 
of  the  world  had  rendered  the  advent  of  such  a  be¬ 
ing,  and  the  institution  of  such  an  office  indispensa¬ 
bly  necessary.  The  knowledge  of  the  divine  char¬ 
acter  is  the  great  conservative  principle  of  holiness, 
and  the  bulwark  of  human  happiness:  and  it  was  the 
persuasion  of  this  fact,  which  led  the  enemy  of  man 
to  make  that  knowledge  the  object  of  his  first  assault. 
He  knew  that,  dispossessed  of  this  we  should  be  di¬ 
vested  of  all  our  strength,  and  the  ready  dupes  of 
every  artifice  he  might  choose  to  practice.  And  the 
awful  results  of  his  enterprise  have  proved  the  truth 
of  his  calculations,  and  must  surely  have  gratified  to 
the  full  his  boundless  appetite  for  human  destruc¬ 
tion.  Planting  himself  between  God  and  man,  he 
sought  to  intercept  every  beam  from  heaven,  and  to 
throw  his  awful  shadow  across  the  earth  ;  the  gloom 
of  his  presence  fell,  like  a  pall  over  human  hope,  in¬ 
volving  us  in  darkness  that  might  be  felt.  It  is  true, 
there  were  many  unobliterated  traces  of  God  to  be 
found  in  creation,  but  these  related  chiefly  to  his  nat¬ 
ural  greatness  :  his  moral  perfections  could  only  be 
deduced  from  his  own  supernatural  disclosures  ;  and 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


197 


these  as  they  existed  among  the  Jews,  were  inten¬ 
tionally  imperfect.  Truths,  the  most  vital,  wore  the 
form  of  enigmas;  the  church  was  local  and  limited  , 
the  moral  law  was  oppressed  and  borne  down  by  the 
ceremonial ;  the  sensible  was  appealed  to  more  than 
the  intellectual,  sight  more  than  faith  ;  sin  was  only 
ceremonially  atoned  for  ;  the  eternal  future  was  but 
dimly  seen :  and  the  divine  perfections  were  only 
hinted  at.  Theirs  was  an  economy  which  professed 
not  to  be  day,  but  only  the  dawn  and  promise  of  day. 

The  office  of  revealing  and  representing  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  Deity,  was  reserved  for  him  who  had 
been  from  eternity  in  the  bosom  of  the  bathei  ,  t  ie 
image  of  the  invisible  God.  What  no  verbal  desci  ip- 
tion  could  portray,  what  no  image  in  creation  could 
represent,  what  the  loftiest  seraph  in  heaven  woul 
have  shrunk  from  under  a  sense  of  utter  inadequacy, 
that  Christ  undertook,  professed,  and  accomplished 

_ to  bless  the  world  with  a  living,  actual,  adequate 

impersonation  of  the  supreme  God.  It  was  express¬ 
ly  for  this  that  he  stooped  to  employ  the  organs 
and  faculties  of  a  human  being;  for  it  was  only  by- 
adopting  that  appropriate  but  humble  expedient  that 
he  could  make  himself  visible  and  familiar  to  our 
eyes,  while  working  out  and  embodying  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  infinite  love.  Arrayed  in  a  body  which  God 
had  prepared  and  not  man,  lie  challenged  to  himself 
the  exclusive  power  of  unveiling  the  divine  perfec¬ 
tions  ;  “No  man,”  said  he,  “knoweth  the  father  ex¬ 
cept  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  shall 
reveal  him.”  He  took,  as  it  became  him  the  highest 
ground  ;  for  he  felt  that  he  held  the  salvation  of  the 
world  in  his  hand;  that  the  illumination  of  mankind 
was  entirely  at  his  discretion  ;  that,  at  that  moment, 
the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  was  in  him ;  and  that  had 
he  decided  it  should  remain  there  concealed,  the  un¬ 
relieved  darkness  of  the  world  would  have  been 
made  eternal,  and  man  must  have  perished  in  igno¬ 
rance  of  God. 


128 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


That  lie  came  to  show  us  the  Father  is  evident 
from  considerations  such  as  these:  firsts he  claimed 
to  be  regarded  as  the  habitation  of  Deity.  “De¬ 
stroy  this  temple,”  said  lie,  “and  in  three  days  I  will 
raise  it  again  ;”  “  lie  spake  of  the  temple  of  his 

body.”  To  constitute  a  place,  or  a  person,  a  temple, 
the  indwelling  presence  of  Jehovah  is  the  primary 
requisite.  The  Jews  could  have  had  no  conception 
of  a  temple  apart  from  this  ;  for  in  the  holiest  of  all, 
Jehovah  had  dwelt  as  in  his  earthly  palace,  enthron¬ 
ed  in  veiled  and  unapproachable  splendor :  nor 
could  Jesus  have  intended  to  claim  less  than  this  for 
the  sanctuary  of  his  body,  without  offering  violence 
to  modes  of  thinking  which  had  become  sacred,  and 
to  associations  the  most  precious.  On  another  oc¬ 
casion,  when  standing  in  the  holy  place,  he  affirmed, 
“  I  say  unto  you,  that  in  this  place  is  one  greater 
than  the  temple;”  he  said  this  while  perfectly  aware 
that  the  hallowed  object  with  which  he  compared 
himself  was,  ip  their  eyes,  the  image  of  every  thing 
magnificent  and  divine ;  that  it  was  their  heaven  up¬ 
on  earth;  that  they  allowed  nothing  to  surpass  the 
temple  except  the  God  who  dwelt  in  it ;  but  he  could 
add,  the  Father  is  in  me,  in  a  sense  which  justified  the 
comparison,  and  which  turned  even  the  symbolic 
glory  which  descended  at  the  dedication  into  eclipse 
and  darkness.  Had  the  vision  of  Isaiah  been  repeat¬ 
ed,  “  when  he  saw  his  glory  and  spake  of  him,”  it 
could  have  made  no  addition  to  the  greatness  he  al¬ 
ready  derived  from  the  personal  inhabitation  of  the 
Deity.  Had  Moses  and  Elijah,  attended  by  all  the 
heirarchal  orders  of  the  Jewish  church  of  every  age 
descended  as  on  Tabor,  and  laid  their  official  honors 
at  his  feet,  it  would  have  been  only  an  augmentation 
of  his  glory  in  declaration  and  appearance.  If,  on 
entering  his  “  Father’s  house,”  an  invisible  hand  had 
poured  out  all  its  wealth  before  him  ;  had  all  its  sym¬ 
bols  of  power  and  office  taken  life  and  form,  and  set¬ 
tled  upon  him  ;  had  all  its  priests  departed,  its  fires  be¬ 
come  extinct,  and  the  last  wreath  of  its  incense  mount- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


129 


ed  to  heaven  ;  liad  its  ancient  shekinah  from  within 
the  veil,  emerged  and  enthroned  itseli  on  Ins  brow  ; 
and  had  all  its  angel-guards  made  themselves  visible, 
and  fallen  into  his  train,  the  enactment  ol  the  scene 
would  have  been  only  the  homage  of  a  splendid 
pageant  paid  to  a  glory  unlimited  and  divine.  I  he 
glorious  train  of  the  divine  perfections  had  come 
down  and  filled  the  temple  of  his  humanity.  I  ruth 
was  seated  on  his  lips ;  and  thence  gave  forth  in 
abundance  unsolicited  oracles,  such  as  mortal  ears 
had  never  before  heard,  nor  the  records  of  heavenly 
wisdom  themselves  contained.  His  heart  was  an  a  - 
tar  on  which  infinite  love  could  visibly  burn  ;  and  in 
which  it  found  for  itself  a  sacrifice  as  costly  and  con¬ 
genial  as  its  nature  could  desire.  Goodness  and  pow¬ 
er  employed  him,  to  assert  their  majesty,  by  bending 
all  things  to  the  furtherance  of  human  happiness. 
In  his  breast  mercy  may  be  said  to  have  held  her 
court ;  and  in  his  looks  of  compassion,  which  were 
always  bent  over  human  misery,  to  have  found  the 
most  prevailing  advocates  and  intercessors,  Ho  1- 
ness  could  dispense  with  an  ark  and  tables  to  contain 
its  laws;  for  in  his  life  its  enshrined  glory  was  made 
so  transparent  that  even  demons  confessed  him  to  be 
the  Holy  One  of  God.  While  justice,  which  had 
asked  an  equivalent  for  the  wrong  it  had  sustained 
at  the  hands  of  man,  found  that  the  illustrious  victim 
was  the  living  temple  itself;  that  though  repleniSxied 
throughout-  with  the  presence  of  Deity,  the  whole 
sanctuary  was  one  entire  propitiary.  Like  the  move¬ 
able  sanctuary  which  accompanied  the  Israelites  m 
the  wilderness,  he  was  the  tabernacle  of  witness  ,  hav¬ 
ing  been  made  flesh,  he  came  and  set  up  his  taber¬ 
nacle  in  the  midst  of  the  human  encampment,  pitch¬ 
ed  his  tent  side  by  side  with  our  tents,  to  attest  the 
presence  of  God,  to  make  us  familiar  with  his  char¬ 
acter,  and  sensible  of  his  love.  The  great  inscrip¬ 
tion  of  Immanuel,  God  with  us,  was  so  legible  on  ev¬ 
ery  part,  that  the  thoughtful  and  reverent  could  not. 
raise  their  eye  to  Christ,  without  being  conscious  of 


130 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

feelings  of  reverence  and  awe,  like  those  awakened 
by  the  sight  of  a  temple.  Even  the  godless  and 
profane,  who  armed  themselves  and  went  out  to  de¬ 
stroy  this  temple,  were  repeatedly  abashed  as  they 
drew  near,  and  forgot  their  purpose  ;  disarmed  and 
ravished  at  the  sight  of  its  divine  magnificence,  they 
remained  awhile  to  worship,  and  then  returned  to 
confess  their  admiration  ;  occasionally,  they  beheld 
the  shrine  of  his  humanity  flooded  with  light,  bathed 
in  the  glory  of  the  present  Deity  ;  a  glory  which  was 
obviously  attempered  and  designed  to  make  man  in 
love  with  God,  for  it  was  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

Secondly,  his  frequent  declarations  that  he  had  re¬ 
ceived  universal  empire,  can  only  he  construed  as 
meant  to  establish  his  representative  claims.  Affirm¬ 
ations  to  this  effect,  he  uttered  in  terms  such  as 
these  :  “All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Fa¬ 
ther;  all  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine;  all 
power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.” 
Now  for  what  adequate,  what  assignable  reason 
could  this  mighty  transfer  have  been  made  ;  this  trans¬ 
fer  of  all  things  into  the  hands  of  the  incarnate  Sav¬ 
iour,  if  not  for  the  purpose  of  employing  and  making 
them  known  ?  Concealment  could  not  possibly  be 
the  object  of  giving  him  this  infinite  treasure  ;  for 
that  end  might  have  been  equally  answered  by  allow¬ 
ing  it  to  remain  where  it  had  been  from  eternity — 
shut  up  in  the  bosom  of  God.  But  it  was  committed 
to  him  with  a  commission  to  make  it  known  ;  it  was 
given  to  him,  like  the  light  to  the  sun,  with  a  com¬ 
mand  to  shine  and  turn  our  darkness  into  day. 

That  he  was  the  ordained  medium  of  the  divine 
glory  is  apparent,  thirdly ,  from  his  “Making  himself 
equal  with  God.”  The  fact  that  he  did  this,  is  here 
assumed :  the  object  he  aimed  at,  could  have  only 
one  alternative  ;  for  it  was  not  to  aggrandize  himself 
at  the  expense  of  the  Deity,  to  sink  the  character  of 
the  Divine  Being  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  to 
erect  his  own  pretensions  on  its  ruins,  his  sole  de¬ 
sign  must  have  been  to  furnish  an  adequate  inaniles- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


131 


tation  of  the  supreme  excellence.  That  this  alone 
was  his  aim  is  obvious  ;  for  if  he  ever  for  a  moment 
intermitted  his  endeavor  to  enlarge  our  views  of  that 
excellence,  it  was  only  to  realize  the  conceptions 
which  his  words  had  awakened,  by  giving  to  them 
life  and  form  in  godlike  deeds. 

The  same  end  is  evident,  fourthly,  from  his  uni¬ 
formly  referring  to  every  thing  good  and  gracious  he 
did  to  the  love  of  God.  It  is  true,  that  in  exalting 
the  character  of  God,  he  was  virtually  magnifying 
his  own  ;  for  they  are  strictly  identical.  But  as  far 
as  his  own  claims,  as  Mediator,  are  distinct  from 
those  of  the  invisible  God,  he  laid  himself  out  to  ag¬ 
grandize  the  paternal  character.  Take,  as  an  ex¬ 
ample,  the  declaration  in  which  he  ascribes  his  ad¬ 
vent  to  the  fact,  that  God  loved  the  world.  Had  he 
attributed  his  coming  to  his  own  love,  the  representa¬ 
tion  would  have  been  most  literally  true  ;  but  he 
would  have  us  to  see  in  it  nothing  but  the  love  of 
God.  Bent  on  alluring  us  to  God,  by  filling  our  mind 
with  a  vast  conception  of  paternal  grace,  he  would 
have  us  to  refer  his  own  carnation,  with  its  attendant 
blessings,  entirely  to  the  grace  of  God.  He  wras  con¬ 
tent  to  conceal  himself,  to  merge  his  own  claims,  as 
far  as  that  is  consistent  with  the  laws  of  mediation, 
that  he  might  occupy  the  whole  of  our  field  of  vision 
with  the  perfections  of  God. 

And  that  such  was  his  distinguished  office  is  ap¬ 
parent,  fifthly ,  from  declarations  which  are  all  but  ex¬ 
press  on  the  subject.  In  his  intercessory  prayer,  for 
instance,  he  declared,  “  I  have  manifested  thy  name  ; 
I  have  glorified  thee  on  earth  ;  I  have  finished  the 
work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do.”  Language, 
which  intimates  that  the  supreme  object  of  his  com¬ 
ing  into  the  world  had  been  to  illustrate  the  glori¬ 
ous  character  of  God  ;  and  that  having  done  this,  he 
considered  his  work  on  earth  as  accomplished. 

III.  It  now  becomes  an  interesting  and  essential 
part  of  our  business,  to  trace  his  mode  of  divine  mani¬ 
festation.  As  the  word  of  God,  he  partly  employed 


132 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  medium  of  oral  instruction.  And  had  lie  sus¬ 
tained  the  character  of  a  prophet  only,  had  he  added 
no  actions  to  his  words,  the  clearness,  unction,  and 
fullness  of  his  teaching  were  such,  that  the  most 
evangelical  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  might  have 
envied  a  place  at  his  feet,  and  exclaimed  with  the 
disciples,  “  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life.” 

But  a  verbal  representation  of  the  Divine  Being, 
even  though  it  had  come  direct  from  the  depths  of 
the  excellent  glory,  would  have  been  totally  inade¬ 
quate  to  the  ends  proposed  ;  and  yet  more  than  this 
would  have  been  “above  all  that  we  can  ask  or  think.” 
Actions  alone  could  adequately  set  forth  the  grace  of 
him,  whose  natural  greatness  is  such,  that  a  celestial 
alphabet,  a  glorious  arrangement  of  characters  com¬ 
posed  of  an  infinite  number  of  suns  and  systems,  is 
requisite  to  express  it.  The  acts  of  Christ  were  a 
system  of  sublime  hieroglyphics,  every  part  of  which 
stood  lor  some  glorious  aspect  of  the  divine  charac¬ 
ter  ;  while,  of  that  system,  his  words  were  meant  to 
furnish  us  with  the  key  and  interpretation.  Actions, 
it  is  proverbial,  speak  louder  than  words:  his  actions 
spoke  with  a  voice  which  unbelief  itselfj  though  it 
had  stopped  its  ears,  could  not  resist,  and  which 
made  itself  to  be  heard,  even  by  many  who  were 
dead  in  sin  ;  a  voice  which,  beginning  at  his  incar¬ 
nation,  went  on  increasing  through  all  his  godlike 
deeds  of  power  and  love,  waxing  louder  and  louder 
through  the  successive  stages  of  his  sufferings  and 
death,  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  till  the  Lord 
went  up  with  a  shout ;  and  which  still  continues  to 
swell  in  volume  and  power,  as  he  goes  on  to  work 
out  the  character  of  God,  and  evolve  the  glorious 
purposes  of  grace,  filling  heaven  and  earth,  the  illim¬ 
itable  temple  of  the  universe,  with  the  echoes  of  the 
grand  announcement — that  God  is  love. 

1.  Speaking  to  the  mind  by  sensible  representa¬ 
tions,  was  a  striking  characteristic  even  of  our  Lord’s 
ordinary  teaching.  A  memorable  instance  occurred 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


133 


in  his  reply  to  the  messengers  of  John,  when 
they  came  to  inquire,  “  Art  thou  lie  that  should 
come ;  or  do  we  look  for  another  P  And  in  the  same 
hour  he  cured  many  of  their  infirmities,  and  plagues, 
and  of  evil  spirits;  and  unto  many  that  were  blind  he 
gave  sight.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them,  go  your  way, 
and  tell  John  what  things  ye  have  seen  and  heard.” 
He  foresaw  the  moment  when  these  disciples  would 
arrive  and  he  prepared  for  it ;  he  knew  the  object  of 
their  visit,  and  he  arrayed  his  demonstrations  accord¬ 
ingly.  And  what  were  his  preparations  ?  a  company 
of  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  leprous,  the  demoniacal, 
the  dying ;  these  were  collected  around  him,  and 
formed  tbe  materials  on  which  he  proposed  to  work  ; 
this  w'as  the  selection  of  misery,  the  mass  of  disease 
anil  death  on  which  he  designed  to  breathe,  and 
create  it  anew.  The  messengers  drew  nigh,  and  he 
made  bare  his  arm  :  they  arrived,  and  asked  him  to 
decide  the  question  of  his  Messiahship ;  forthwith 
they  received  his  reply  in  a  series  of  stupendous  mir¬ 
acles.  He  spoke  and  the  deaf  heard  his  voice  ;  he 
spoke  again  and  the  blind  opened  their  eyes  on  the 
blessed  light  of  day  ;  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  the 
crimson  fever  faded  at  his  touch ;  he  looked  on  the 
dying,  and  they  arose  and  were  strong  ;  he  called  to 
the  phrenzied  demoniac,  and  madness  itself  fell  down 
and  worshiped  him.  “  There,”  said  he,  “  behold  my 
reply !  Go,  and  tell  John  what  things  ye  have  seen 
and  heard,  and  abide  by  the  right  interpretation  of 
them.” 

Similar  to  this  was  his  reply,  when  Philip  re¬ 
quested  to  behold  the  Father.  “Jesus  answered, 
Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou 
not  known  me  Philip  ?  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath 

seen  the  Father . from  henceforth  ye  know 

him  and  have  seen  him.”  The  desire  of  the  disciple 
to  behold  the  sum  of  all  excellence,  is  the  last  effort, 
the  noblest  operation  of  the  human  mind.  The  prompt, 
detailed,  and  definite  reply  of  Christ,  showed  his  high 
estimate  of  its  importance,  and  his  desire  to  give  it  a 
12 


134 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


final  answer.  This  he  did,  by  calling  attention  to  him¬ 
self ;  he  did  not  rebuke  the  desire  of  being  shown  the 
Father,  but  instantly  and  completely  gratified  it  by 
showing  himself;  while  the  only  rebuke  which 
his  words  conveyed,  was  a  tender  reproach  for  that 
mental  obtuseness  which  could  ask  for  a  supplement 
to  perfection,  which  could  look  for  additions  to  his 
own  divinity,  or  think  of  the  paternal  character  and 
existence  as  detached  from  his  own  ;  a  remonstrance 
for  the  want  of  that  spiritual  intuition  which  should 
have  discerned  in  him  the  concentration  of  the  whole 
moral  greatness,  the  great  name  of  God. 

The  exhibition  of  the  divine  character  was  an  end 
so  sublime,  that  nothing  could  for  a  moment  divert 
his  eye  from  it ;  every  action  and  item  of  his  life  was 
referrible  to  this,  and  subsidiary  to  it.  In  all  he  did, 
he  intuitively  saw  how  the  Father  would  have  done  it, 
and  he  immediately  embodied  andrealized  the  concep¬ 
tion,  The  power  which  had  replenished  the  universe 
with  worlds  and  beings,  employed  his  human  arms, 
and  unbent  itself  in  acts  of  healing  mercy.  Omni¬ 
science,  looking  through  his  eyes,  spoke  of  the  future 
as  if  it  were  present,  and  perused  at  pleasure  the  se¬ 
crets  of  every  heart.  As  the  centre  of  the  Presence 
which  fills  immensity,  and  the  seat  of  the  will  to 
which  all  things  are  possible,  he  proved  himself  pre¬ 
sent  where  he  was  not  seen ;  issued  his  fiat  to  dis¬ 
tant  objects,  and  received  obedience  to  a  mere  voli¬ 
tion.  He  made  all-sufficience  intelligible  and  famil¬ 
iar,  by  calling  lor  things  that  were  not  and  they  came  ; 
by  making  the  capacity  of  the  recipients  the  only 
measure  of  his  impartations ;  and  by  the  spontaneous 
emenation  of  a  virtue  which  went  out  of  him,  and 
healed  them  all.  Had  the  star  which  led  the  Magi  to 
his  feet  been  actually  brought  from  a  distant  sys¬ 
tem,  it  would  only  ljave  been  a  faint  illustration  of 
the  way  in  which  he  brought  the  perfections  of  God 
under  the  cognizance  of  man.  Those  properties  of 
the  divine  greatness  from  which  previously  we  had 
seemed  to  stand  at  an  infinite  remoteness,  he  brought 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


135 


near,  and  domesticated,  and  encouraged  us  to  con¬ 
sider  them  henceforth  as  our  own. 

2.  “As  the  Father  gave  me  commandment,  so  I 
do.”  Such  were  the  significant  terms  with  which 
the  Saviour  prefaced  his  godlike  deeds,  as,  com¬ 
pleting  one  stage  in  his  career  of  mercy,  he  advanced 
and  addressed  himself  to  another.  “  This  command¬ 
ment  have  I  received  of  my  Father  in  other  words, 
“  In  all  I  do,  I  am  only  consulting  the  will,  and  ful¬ 
filling  the  designs  of  the  eternal  Father  ;  so  that  the 
history  of  my  earthly  life  will  be  the  exact  record 
of  his  purposes  towards  man,  and  the  adequate  mani¬ 
festation  of  his  divine  perfections.”  Thus  interpre¬ 
ted,  all  have  an  infinite  moral ; — of  which  this  is  a 
point  and  essence — that  God  would  vanquish  us  by 
love.  Did  he  come  forth  from  the  Father  ?  it  was  to 
annihilate  the  distance,  to  bring  us  across  the  gulf 
which  sin  had  created  between  God  and  us,  to  place 
us  in  the  domains  of  mercy,  and  within  reach  of  the 
tree  of  life.  Did  he  join  himself  to  our  nature  ?  it 
was  to  show  us  that  God  would  have  us  to  be  in  the 
closest  union  with  himself,  and  that  as  we  cannot 
possibly  be  happy  without  him,  so  neither  can  his 
love  be  satisfied  without  us ;  that  he  is  bent  on  re¬ 
claiming  a  race  of  creatures  who,  though  they  once 
rejoiced  in  him,  have  been  lost  from  his  embrace,  and 
of  attaching  thenr  to  himself  by  a  tie  as  new  and  as¬ 
tonishing  to  the  universe,  as  it  is  proof  against  all  the 
dissevering  powers  of  sin.  He  lived  among  us,  con¬ 
suming  himself  in  acts  of  self-denial  and  labors  of 
love ;  it  was  to  teach  us  that  God  is  always  living 
with  us,  that  he  is  an  inmate  of  every  dwelling,  tast¬ 
ing  every  earthly  sorrow,  and  regarding  our  wants 
as  the  natural  channels  for  his  fullness  to  flow  in  and 
replenish. 

3.  The  motto  of  every  divine  dispensation  to  man 
has  been  the  same,  God  is  love.  The  original  apos- 
tacy  commenced  in  the  disbelief  and  denial  of  this 
truth  ;  for  it  is  only  by  clearly  discerning  and  cordi¬ 
ally  believing  it  that  we  remain  in  a  state  of  allegi- 


136 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ance  to  God.  But  if  infinite  benevolence  was  con¬ 
sidered  problematical  by  man  prior  to  the  fall,  by 
what  unimaginable  expedient  shall  the  problem  be 
demonstrated  to  him,  now  that  he  looks  on  every 
thing  that  comes  from  God  through  a  medium  of  en¬ 
mity  ?  And  yet  this  very  truth  did  Jesus  adopt  as 
his  motto  ;  this  very  question  he  undertook  to  work 
out,  and  set  at  rest  for  ever.  To  convince  us,  there¬ 
fore,  that  there  was  no  dissentient  principle  in  the 
character  of  God,  that  every  property  of  the  divine 
nature  consented  and  subscribed  to  this  declaration 
of  infinite  love  to  man,  it  remained  that  as  these  per¬ 
fections  had  been  already  displayed  separately,  they 
should  now  be  all  collected  and  concentrated,  and 
put  forth  in  some  mighty  act  of  grace,  in  some  defi¬ 
nite,  overwhelming,  all-comprehensive  deed  of  love. 
This,  and  ineffably  more  than  this  was  effected  in 
the  decease  which  he  accomplished  at  Jerusalem. 
On  his  way  to  that  ancient  theatre  of  the  divine  per¬ 
fections,  declarations  such  as  these  were  constantly 
on  his  lips  ;  “  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted 
up ;  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  eternal  life.”  “  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  who¬ 
soever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life.”  “  I  lay  down  my  life  for  my  sheep. 

« I  give  my  flesh  for  the  life  of  the  world.”  “  I  give 
my  life  a  ransom  for  many.”  “  This  commandment 
have  I  received  of  my  Father.”  Here  was  power, 
nerving  his  arm,  and  declaring  that  it  would  show 
itself  in  him  mighty  to  save.  Here  was  wisdom, 
with  its  unfolded  plan  of  redemption,  calling  admir¬ 
ation  to  its  amazing  details:  and  faithfulness,  honor¬ 
ing  and  accepting  its  ancient  engagements:  and  ho- 
liness  pressing  to  its  heart  the  violated  law,  and 
meditating  for  its  illustrious  honors ;  and  love,  re¬ 
joicing  to  find  itself  thus  supported ;  speaking  as 
confidently  as  if  its  task  were  already  achieved  ;  bid¬ 
ding  the  world  look  up  and  smile ;  and  giving  awa\ 
provinces  and  thrones  in  its  prospective  kingdom. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


137 


Having  thus  taught  us  to  refer  his  death  to  the  di¬ 
vine  benignity,  having  placed  his  cross  in  a  line  with 
the  light  of  the  divine  countenance,  so  that  on  be¬ 
holding  the  one  we  may  be  drawn  to  gaze  on  the 
other,  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death.  He  show¬ 
ed  us  that,  while  the,  hatred  of  God  against  sin  is 
strong  as  death,  his  love  to  sinners  is  yet  stronger 
than  death.  He  brought  to  an  issue  the  momentous 
question,  which  had  been  kept  open  since  the  fall— 
whether  or  not  God  is  light  and  lpve.  The  satanic  ag¬ 
itation  of  this  parent  truth  was  the  origin  of  human 
alienation  from  God.  And  having  pnce  brought  it 
into  question  in  the  human  mind,  and  thereby  sown 
the  seeds  of  enmity  against  God,  it  only  remained 
for  the  father  of  lies  to  water  those  deadly  seeds,  in 
order  to  reap  the  fruit  of  a  continued  triumph 
against  the  Supreme.  Besides,  by  widening  the 
breach  which  existed  between  earth  and  heaven, 
Satan  might  calculate  on  the  possibility  of  at  length 
realizing  his  own  lie,  of  wearing  out  the  goodness 
which  only  encountered  abuse,  of  extinguishing  the 
last  spark  of  love  in  the  breast  of  God,  and  of  exas¬ 
perating  justice  to  doom  and  destroy  the  whole  spe¬ 
cies.  Every  moment  of  four  thousand  years,  there¬ 
fore,  he  had  turned  to  account,  in  fomenting  the 
aversion  of  man  to  God.  By  a  vast,  unslumbering, 
and  complicated  system,  the  whole  agency  of  evil 
had  been  kept  in  motion,  and  made  to  bear  upon 
man,  addressing  itself  to  every  passion,  and  entrench¬ 
ing  itself  in  every  heart ;  so  that,  in  a  sense  more 
than  figurative,  the  world,  the  entire  mass  of  human¬ 
ity,  was  subjected  to  a  demoniacal  possession. 

Under  such  tutelege,  (how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?) 
every  dispensation  and  event  was  interpreted  against 
God.  Signals  of  reconciliation  were  hung  out  from 
heaven ;  treaties  were  set  on  foot ;  but  men  scowled 
back  defiance,  and  exclaimed,  “  Depart  from  us : 
we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways.”  Mes¬ 
senger  after  messenger  was  dispatched  to  entreat 
their  attention,  “  but  they  beat  one,  and  stoned  anoth- 
12* 


138 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


er,  and  killed  another.”  During  the  whole  tract  of 
time,  the  principle  of  human  hatred  had  gone  on 
growing  in  intensity,  collecting  its  materials  of  war, 
and  daily  augmenting  in  strength  till  it  had  reached 
so  gigantic  and  threatening  a  form,  that  if  it  was  to 
be  vanquished  by  love  and  not  by  power,  it  was  evi¬ 
dent  that  love  must  put  forth  its  might  in  an  act  un¬ 
paralleled,  unimaginable,  and  infinite.  Such  an  act 
was  resolved  on.  Voices  from  heaven  announced  it. 
Calvary  was  selected  for  the  eventful  scene.  On  the 
part  of  God,  appeared  his  only  begotten  Son,  wear¬ 
ing  the  form  of  a  human  being  :  against  him,  came 
hell  and  earth  ;  all  the  nursed  and  ancient  hatred  of 
the  human  heart,  and  all  the  immemorial  enmity 
which  had  formed  the  atmosphere  of  hell,  were 
there,  collected  and  concentrated  against  him.  Love 
and  hatred  confronted  each  other.  At  that  moment, 
of  all  the  passions  and  principles  in  the  universe, 
these  two  antagonist  powers  alone  remained.  All 
the  diversified  sentiments  and  emotions  of  created 
natures  were  ranged  under,  or  resolved  into  one  of 
these  two  principles.  And  while  the  object  of  the 
one  was  to  unite  its  whole  force  in  a  blow  which 
should  need  no  repetition,  to  throw  all  its  accumula¬ 
ted  vengeance  into  one  annihilating  stroke  ;  it  was 
the  aim  of  the  other,  by  receiving  that  stroke,  to  let 
the  strength  of  its  foe  be  exhausted,  to  vanquish  it  by 
submission,  to  reduce  it  to  a  state  of  silence  and 
shame,  at  finding  its  powers  and  weapons  all  spent, 
while  yet  the  object  of  its  rage  stood  unimpaired, 
and  even  seemed  by  wounding  to  acquire  strength. 

And  what  was  the,  sublime  result?  “Ye  know 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  As  the  de¬ 
mands  of  our  hatred  increased,  his  love  rose  with 
them  :  we  aimed  at  his  heart ;  and  he  promptly  bared 
it  to  receive  the  stroke ;  and,  behold,  it  was  inscribed 
with  the  names  of  his  enemies :  we  sought  his  life  ; 
“  but,”  said  he,  “  I  lay  it  down  of  myself,”  “  and  he 
gave  up  the  ghost so  quick  was  he  in  anticipating 
the  fatal  blow,  that  he  even  forestalled  death  by  the 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


139 


speed  with  which  he  voluntarily  surrendered  his 
spirit :  we  demanded  his  blood ;  but  no  sooner  had 
his  side  been  pierced  than  forthwith  came  thereout 
blood  and  water — a  twofold  evidence  of  his  death  ; 
if  not  also  a  symbol  of  the  twofold  element  of  par¬ 
don  and  purity,  and  an  emblem  of  the  fullness  with 
which  the  treasury  of  his  heart  pours  forth  more  than 
we  ask  or  think. 

4.  One  might  have  supposed  that  the  cross  of 
Christ,  as  the  great  illustration  of  divine  grace,  would 
have  been  left  to  stand  alone ;  that  even  he,  whose 
name  is  Love,  would  not  have  thought  of  enhancing 
its  attractions  by  any  subsidiary  aids.  As  the  focal 
point  of  his  divine  benevolence  the  cross  of  Christ  is 
the  jewel,  of  which  all  the  created  universe  is  only 
the  setting  :  by  what  possible  accompaniments,  then, 
can  its  attractions  be  enhanced  ?  He,  who  can  chal¬ 
lenge  perfection  for  all  his  works,  whose  minutest 
productions  are  known  by  their  exquisite  finish, 
would  allow  no  circumstance  to  be  wanting,  which 
could  grace  and  complete  his  masterwork.  By  pray¬ 
ing  for  his  executioners,  and,  still  more,  by  dispen¬ 
sing  salvation  to  the  dying  malefactor,  he  showed, 
that,  while  dying  for  all,  he  was  distinctly  mindful  of 
the  exigencies  of  each.  His  cross  was  surrounded 
by  a  mass  of  the  darkest  elements  of  human  deprav¬ 
ity — a  specimen  of  the  gross,  the  condensed  impiety 
which  in  every  age  would  collect  around  it,  to  de¬ 
ride,  or  to  pray ;  but  it  became  vocal  with  prayer, 
and  gave  forth  an  element  of  spiritual  life ;  sur¬ 
rounding  itself  with  an  element  of  light  and  love 
which  none  could  approach,  without  approaching  at 
the  same  time  a  personal  change.  By  associating 
Christ,  in  his  death,  with  the  condemned  malefactors, 
the  object  of  the  Jews  was  to  add  the  last  shade  of 
disgrace  to  his  holy  name  ;  and  had  it  been  their  aim 
to  select  such  as,  besides  being  the  refuse  of  the  vile, 
were  the  least  likely  to  catch  what  they  might  call 
the  infection  of  his  character,  they  could  not  proba¬ 
bly  have  selected  two  human  beings  more  proof 


140 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


against  the  impressions  of  moral  excellence.  By 
saving  one  of  these,  therefore,  in  the  hour  of  his 
own  death,  he  created  the  most  effecting  and  unlook¬ 
ed-for  illustration  of  the  love  of  God ;  he  showed 
that  whatever  light  might  then  be  suffering  eclipse, 
the  solar  fervor  of  that  love  could  know  no  abate¬ 
ment  ;  he  caused  to  meet,  in  the  same  moment,  the 
crowning  act  of  human  guilt  in  his  own  crucifixion, 
and  ihe  crowning  act  of  divine  benevolence  in  the 
salvation  of  one  of  the  guiltiest  of  our  race.  He  thus 
erected  a  monument,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  to  the 
transcendant  love  of  God ;  a  monument  which,  from 
its  position  close  by  the  cross,  could  not  fail  to  be 
seen  by  every  penitent  eye  which  in  after  times 
should  be  pointed  to  the  Lamb  of  God  bearing  on  it 
this  inscription,  “Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners  ;  even  the  chief.” 

5.  Had  the  history  of  Christ  only  taught  us  that 
sin  may  be  successfully  resisted,  and  the  world  over¬ 
come,  even  that  would  have  laid  us  under  vast  obli¬ 
gation.  But  having  assumed  our  nature,  and  espoused 
our  cause,  he  looked  on  our  enemies  as  his  own  ;  he 
challenged  and  assailed  them  in  our  name.  He  laid 
not  down  his  life,  till  he  could  say  of  the  conflict,  Jt  is 
finished ;  he  retired  not  from  the  scene  of  blood,  till 
he  could  say  to  his  followers,  “  Be  of  good  cheer,  I 
have  overcome.”  His  resurrection  from  the  dead 
rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  tomb  of  human  hope. 
Having  carried  our  nature  triumphantly  through  all 
the  evils  that  can  assail  it ;  having  collected  at  his 
feet  the  chains  and  weapons  which  were  meant  for 
us — all  the  instruments  and  spoils  of  sin — he  would 
have  us  to  know,  that  henceforth  we  have  nothing  to 
dread  from  our  spiritual  foes;  since,  in  the  same 
way,  he  will  carry  us  triumphantly  through  all  the 
ranks  of  hell,  and  the  dominions  of  the  grave,  and 
will  bring  us  into  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the 
people  of  God. 

6.  Subsequent  to  his  resurrection,  the  commission 
which  he  gave  to  his  apostles,  to  publish  “repent- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


141 


ance  and  remission  of  sins  in  bis  name,  among  all 
nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem ,  showed  him  still 
inventive  of  new  illustrations  of  the  divine  love.  It 
was  the  act  of  a  most  clement  sovereign,  who,  bent 
on  convincing  his  rebellious  subjects  of  the  sincerity 
of  his  desire  to  replace  them  in  his  favor,  should 
take  some  of  the  most  traitorous  among  them,  load 
them  with  honors,  instate  them  into  the  highest  offices, 
and  then  send  them  forth  into  the  camp  of  the  re¬ 
volted  to  proclaim  his  grace  to  the  chief  of  the  disaf¬ 
fected,  and  bearing  in  their  hands  an  act  of  amnesty 
for  all.  “  Ye  have  not  chosen  me ;  but  I  have  chos¬ 
en  you,  and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring 
forth  fruit.”  They  had  lived  in  the  closest  alliance 
with  those  who  had  not  only  said,  “  Come  let  us  kill 
him but  who  had  actually  perpetrated  his  death 
with  acclamation,  as  a  deed  essential  to  their  happi¬ 
ness.  But  having  reclaimed  them  from  their  diso¬ 
bedience,  and  engaged  their  hearts,  he  took  them 
into  his  counsels,  heaped  on  them  his  royal  favors, 
shared  with  them  his  prerogatives,  gave  them  a  joint 
interest  with  himself  in  the  success  of  all  his  designs 
of  grace,  and  then  sent  them  forth  to  his  foes  with 
this  injunction — that  they  should  first  visit  the  men 
who  had  slain  him — should  let  it  be  seen  bow  afflu¬ 
ent  he  had  made  them  in  heavenly  gifts,  how  unlim¬ 
ited  the  access  they  enjoyed  to  his  divine  treasury ; 
at  the  same  time  exhibiting  their  commission,  and 
inviting  all  to  a  community  with  themselves  of  these 
special  privileges  and  grace. 

7.  The  most  affectionate  parent  can  only  endow 
his  child  with  the  accidents  of  fortune,  and  operate 
on  him  by  the  uncertain  influence  of  education  and 
example.  However  wise  and  virtuous  he  may  be 
himself;  and  however  he  may  yearu  to  share  his 
piety  with  his  beloved  child,  a  communication  of 
character  is  a  transferrence  which  he  cannot  make. 
Every  thing  else  he  may  succeed  in  imparting  but 
here  he  has  no  prerogative.  Christ  not  only  gave 
himself  for ,  but  to  his  disciples.  “  He  breathed  on 


142 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


them,  and  saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost.”  By  this  emblematic  act,  he  signified,  not 
merely  the  importation  of  miraculous  powers,  but 
the  inspiration  of  his  sanctifying  spirit,  the  vital 
transfusion  of  his  own  self,  into  the  souls  of  this  peo¬ 
ple.  He  would  have  them  to  know  that,  henceforth, 
lie  and  they  can  no  more  live  a  divided  life ;  that  he 
will  live  through  their  faculties,  and  act  through  then- 
organs  ;  and  that  they  must  choose  with  his  will, 
and  act  with  his  spirit;  that  it  may  he  no  more  they 
that  liye,  but  he  that  liveth  in  them.  But,  in  all  this, 
he  would  impress  them  with  the  fact — that  he  is 
only  giving  to  them  the  glory  which  the  Father  had 
given  him,  that  both  he  and  they  might  be  one  in 
God. 

8.  An  original  and  important  part  of  the  Saviour’s 
teaching  concerning  himself,  is  that  which  relates  to 
his  office  of  intercession.  Perhaps  no  part  of  the 
Jewish  ceremonial  was  more  impressive,  or  calcu¬ 
lated  t,Q  fill  the  imagination  than  the  scene  in  which 
the  High  Priest  passed  within  the  veil  on  the  great 
day  of  atonement.  Every  attendant  circumstance — 
the  inviolable  sanctity  of  the  veil  which  the  people 
dared  not  to  approach,  nor  even  the  priests  to  touch, 
the  fact  that  only  one  man  of  all  the  human  race  was 
permitted  to  lift  that  veil,  and  pass  within — the  rare¬ 
ness  of  that  occurrence,  for  to  him  it  was  accessible 
only  once  a  year — and  the  awful  Being,  the  ineffable 
mystery  that  resided  there — all  conspired  to  fill  the 
mind  with  emotions  of  the  profoundest  awe.  On 
the  morning  of  the  appointed  day,  what  must  his 
feelings  have  been,  when,  having  presented  the  sin- 
offerings  for  himself  and  the  people,  he  took  the 
blood  of  the  sacrifice,  and  the  incense,  and  followed 
by  the  anxious  eyes  of  the  breathless  congregation, 
he  proceeded  towards  the  awful  recess — when  he  re¬ 
flected  that  every  step  took  him  nearer  to  the  visible 
presence  of  the  incomprehensible  God — when  he 
lifted  up  the  veil  with  fear  and  trembling — when  the 
veil  closed  on  him,  and  left  him  alone  with  God — 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


143 


when  his  eye  glanced  at  the  mercy-seat,  and  saw  the 
glory  resting  on  it — when  he  advanced  np  to  it,  and 
instantly  began  to  wave  the  incense  before  it,  that  it 
might  forthwith  be  enveloped  in  a  cloud,  lest  he 
should  gaze  on  it  and  perish — when  he  sprinkled  the 
ark  with  the  blood  lie  had  brought  in,  and  remem¬ 
bered  the  purity  of  the  Being  who  commanded  it, 
and  the  sinfulness  of  the  beings  which  rendered  it 
necessary — what  a  responsible  office,  at  that  moment, 
he  filled  !  and  what  vivid,  solemn,  and  lasting  impres¬ 
sions  must  the  scene  have  left  on  every  thoughtful 
worshiper ! 

This  ‘must  have  been  true,  even  of  that  large  ma¬ 
jority  whose  views  terminated  on  the  passing  cere¬ 
mony,  and  who  did  “  not  look  unto  the  end  of  that 
which  is  abolished.”  But  how  much  more  affecting 
must  it  have  been  to  those  who  remembered  that  the 
scene  they  beheld  “  was  only  a  figure  for  the  time 
then  present;”  and  that  solemn  as  it  was,  it  would 
eventually  give  place  to  a  reality  inconceivably  more 
glorious.  Let  any  one  make  the  mental  effort  of 
transporting  himself  back  into  their  circumstances, 
and  he  will  find  how  impossible  it  was  for  the  believ¬ 
ers  of  that  economy  to  conceive  what  the  substance 
of  that  shadow,  the  reality  of  that  figure  was  like¬ 
ly  to  be  ;  and  he  may  also  apprehend  how  much 
more  impressive  the  sign  must  have  been,  from  the 
very  circumstance  of  their  inability  to  decipher  it. 
Doubtless,  “  they  searched  diligently,”  and  pondered 
deeply,  the  meaning  of  the  enigma  ;  and  numerous 
and  splendid  may  have  been  their  conjectures  of  what 
would  possibly  be  the  reality.  Of  that  reality,  it  is  our 
privilege  to  have  been  informed  ;  and  so  stupendous 
is  its  nature,  that  we  feel  assured,  the  sublimest  pre¬ 
conceptions  of  man  could  not  have  come  within  an 
infinite  distance  of  it.  “  We  have  a  High  Priest  who 
is  passed  into  the  heavens,  Jesus  the  Son  of  God.” 
“  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the  holy  places  made 
with  hands,  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in 
the  presence  of  God  for  us.”  “  By  his  own  blood  he 


144 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place,  having  obtained 
eternal  redemption  for  us. 

The  most  copious  account,  indeed,  of  his  divine  in¬ 
tercession  is  to  be  found  in  the  inspired  epistles  ;  but 
the  announcement  of  the  doctrine  came  originally 
and  directly  from  his  own  lips.  “  I  will  pray  the  Fa¬ 
ther, ”  said  he  “  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Com¬ 
forter,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  forever.”  Con¬ 
cerning  the  mode  of  his  intercession  in  heaven,  it 
would  not  be  relevant  here  to  enlarge.  But  unless 
the  whole  doctrine  be  a  mere  fiction  of  mercy,  (an 
idea  at  which  every  feeling  of  piety  revolts,)  the  first 
appearance  of  Jesus  there,  in  his  new  capacity,  must 
have  been  as  invigorating  to  the  worship  of  heaven, 
as  it  is  encouraging  to  the  devotions  of  believers  on 
earth.  When  he  went  from  the  place  of  sacrifice  and 
stood  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us ;  when  lie  ar¬ 
rived  there,  to  find  that  the  incense  of  his  offering 
had  preceded  him,  and  had  filled  the  entire  temple 
with  its  odors  ;  that,  as  if  impatient  for  his  arrival,  his 
throne  was  prepared,  the  hosts  and  orders  of  heaven 
marshaled  for  his  reception,  the  splendid  ranks  and 
heirarchies  destined  for  his  future  state  and  retinue 
waiting  to  do  him  homage ;  and  even  the  eternal  Fa¬ 
ther  himself,  waiting  with  this  grant  of  the  world, 
this  burst  of  infinite  love  on  his  lips.  “  Ask  of  me, 
and  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  posses¬ 
sion  from  that  triumphant  moment  in  the  history 
of  grace,  the  services  of  heaven  must  have  proceeded 
with  new  vigor,  and  every  worshiper  there  have  be¬ 
come  conscious  of  a  fresh  motive,  a  crowning  incen¬ 
tive  to  obedience. 

But,  however  this  may  be,  all  the  encouragement 
which  the  intercession  of  Christ,  as  revealed  in 
scripture,  is  calculated  to  afford,  is  intended  to  de¬ 
scend  and  alight  in  the  heart  of  the  earthly  suppliant 
as  he  bends  at  the  footstool  of  mercy.  And  what 
richer  encouragement  could  the  avarice  of  human 
fear,  or  our  guilty  unbelief,  desire  ?  What  stronger 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


145 


warrant  for  coming  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace 
could  God  himself  supply  ?  A  faint  illustration  of 
this  may  be  drawn  from  that  part  of  the  former  econ¬ 
omy,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made — the 
feast  of  atonement.  Suppose,  among  the  thousands 
that  came  up  to  Jerusalem  at  that  annual  solemnity,  a 
penitent  Israelite  entered  the  temple  with  fear  and 
trembling.  Like  the  publican  that  went  up  to  the 
temple  to  pray,  he  is  burdened  with  a  sense  of  enor¬ 
mous  guilt ;  he  durst  not  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes 
to  heaven ;  he  smites  upon  his  breast ;  he  would 
fain  entreat  for  mercy,  but  he  dreads  lest,  by  doing 
so,  he  should  be  chargeable  with  presumption.  Now, 
when  the  High  Priest  went  within  the  veil,  how  pow¬ 
erfully  might  this  dejected  and  desponding  penitent 
have  been  urged  and  entreated  to  lilt  up  his  voice  to 
God  for  mercy.  “It  is  true,  you  are  a  shiner a  pi¬ 
ous  friend  might  have  said  to  him ;  “  you  cannot 
overrate  the  awful  aggravation  of  your  guilt ;  but 
then  do  not  underrate  the  mercy  of  God  through  an 
atonement.  Has  he  not  promised  that,  for  the  sake 
of  a  propitiatory  sacrifice,  he  will  certainly  forgive 
our  nation  their  iniquities  ?  and  are  not  you  one  of  the 
nation  ?  and  is  not  our  High  Priest  now  within  the 
veil  offering  the  blood  of  atonement  ?  O  then  now, 
while  he  is  there  pleading  in  our  behalf;  now  while 
God  is  in  the  act  of  accepting  the  offering ;  now  ask 
for  remission  ;  and  as  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west, 
so  tar  will  he  remove  your  transgressions  from  you.” 
What  an  encouragement  was  this  to  pray  !  The  ap¬ 
plication  of  all  this  is  obvious.  Suppose  the  inter¬ 
cession  of  Christ  were  at  present  unknown  to  you, 
unknown  to  the  world.  You  have,  let  it  be  suppos¬ 
ed,  just  emerged  from  the  darkness  of  sin,  into  the 
light  of  truth.  For  the  first  time,  you  have  caught  a 
glimpse  of  your  true  condition  as  a  transgressor 
against  God.  You  feel  that  you  are  barely  out  of 
hell :  your  conscience,  unused  and  strange  to  its  of¬ 
fice,  labors  to  discharge  in  a  moment,  the  accumu¬ 
lated  duty  of  years;  repeats  and  even  exasperates 
13 


146 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  accents  of  the  violated  law  ;  surrounds  itself  with 
an  atmosphere  as  terrible  as  that  of  Sinai.  But 
though  God  is  the  being  whose  awful  justice  you 
have  armed  against  you,  his  mercy  you  must  sue  for, 
and  obtain,  or  perish,  it  is  in  vain  for  you  to  think 
of  compensation,  to  plead  your  penitence,  to  prom¬ 
ise  amendment ;  you  eannot  in  this  way  appease  his 
wrath  ;  you  must  cast  yourself  on  his  free  mercy,  or 
perish.  Do  not  think  of  excusing  yourself  from  this 
act,  by  pleading  that  it  would  be  presumption,  an  ag¬ 
gravation  of  your  guilt,  an  invitation  to  ruin  :  even  if 
this  were  true,  it  is  also  true  that  to  neglect  it  is  de¬ 
struction.  If  a  single  ray  of  hope  be  left  you,  it 
must  come  direct  from  the  throne  of  God. 

From  what  quarter  then  shall  we  draw  the  en¬ 
couragement  which  shall  embolden  you  to  approach 
the  mercy-seat  ?  What  is  the  condition  on  which 
you  would  consent  to  go  at  any  given  hour  to-day  or 
to-morrow,  and  fall  down  before  God  in  prayer? 
Would  you  promise  to  do  this  ;  could  you  be  assured 
that  at  the  moment  when  you  were  calling  upon  God 
for  mercy,  you  should  be  accompanied  by  the  earnest 
intercessions  of  your  family,  and  of  all  your  friends 
in  your  behalf  ?  You  have  heard,  that  “  the  effectual 
fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous  man  availeth  much 
that  the  intercession  of  Abraham  suspended,  for  a 
time,  the  descending  fire  which  destroyed  Sodom: 
that,  could  ten  righteous  men  have  been  found  there, 
God  would  for  their  sakes,  have  recalled  the  sentence 
which  had  gone  out  against  it ; — now  would  you  deem 
it  a  sufficient  encouragement  to  go  before  God,  could 
we  guarantee  that,  at  the  time  you  prayed,  every 
righteous  man,  every  believer  in  the  kingdom,  should 
enter  his  closet  and  earnestly  supplicate  to  God  for 
you  ?  Or,  beyond  this,  could  we  assemble  together, 
in  your  behalf,  a  solemn  convocation  of  all  the  Chris¬ 
tian  churches  upon  earth  ;  could  we  bring  all  flesh 
before  God ;  could  we  undertake  to  engage  for  you 
all  the  power  of  prayer  which  at  present  exists  upon 
earth;  and  carrying  the  supposition  out  to  the  ut- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


147 


most,  could  we  even  ensure  to  you  the  mightier  sup¬ 
plications  of  the  church  above,  of  all  its  thrones,  do¬ 
minions,  principalities,  powers,  and  orders  of  saints  ; 
were  all  the  created  universe  to  obtain  a  special  au¬ 
dience  of  God  at  the  same  time,  and  to  surround  his 
throne  together,  for  the  sole  object  of  entreating  him 
on  your  behalf,  could  you  doubt  of  your  success  ?  If 
he  speaks  of  the  combined  intercession  of  “Noah, 
Daniel,  and  Jo!),”  as  all  but  omnipotent,  could  you 
question  the  efficacy  of  your  entreaties,  if  you  knew 
them  to  be  thus  secouded  and  urged  by  the  combin¬ 
ed  importunity  of  all  creation  in  prayer  ?  But  what 
if,  at  the  very  moment  of  audience,  when  the  violent 
were  taking  heaven  for  you  by  force  ;  what  if  then 
you  should  behold  the  Saviour  himself  come  forth, 
and  stand  at  the  altar  of  incense,  having  in  his  hand 
the  golden  censer;  and  what  if  you  should  hear  him 
announce,  “I  will  pray  the  Father  for  you.”  O  what 
a  day  of  hope  would  instantly  arise  upon  your  soul ! 
would  you  not  at  once  be  shamed  out  of  all  your  fears 
and  unbelief?  would  you  not  feel  that,  having  him 
for  an  advocate,  you  could  dispense  with  all  inferior 
aid  ?  that  your  suit  was  as  good  as  gained  ?  So  far 
from  doubting  or  dreading  the  issue  of  your  prayers, 
you  would  henceforth  feel  that  the  footstool  of  mer¬ 
cy  was  the  only  place  of  safety  and  hope  ;  that  if 
danger  impended,  yet  there  he  stood  between  you 
and  it ;  that  if  mercy  gushed  forth,  he  stood  there  as 
a  medium  to  receive  and  pour  it  into  your  soul  ;  that, 
in  his  hands,  your  sacrifice  received  an  infinite  ac¬ 
cession  of  worth,  and  your  entreaties,  if  at  all  aug¬ 
mented  in  power  were  augmented  to  omnipotence. 

;  But  you  need  no  vision  to  certify  the  substantial  truth 
of  this  representation.  If  there  be  any  veracity  in 
the  word  of  God,  there  can  be  no  more  credible  fact 
than  this— that  Jesus  ever  liveth  to  make  interces¬ 
sion  for  us.  You  are  warranted  to  imagine  and  paint 
the  vision  to  your  faith  ;  to  believe  that  you  no  soon¬ 
er  approach  the  seat  of  mercy,  than  you  become  the 
client  of  the  great  Advocate  ;  that,  on  the  first  utter- 


148 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ance  of  your  penitence,  lie  espouses  your  cause, 
makes  it  his  own,  and  presents  your  supplication  be¬ 
fore  the  throne  of  his  own  desire.  Can  you  doubt 
or  delay  to  draw  near  to  God  after  this  ? 

9.  It  is  observable  that  our  Lord  encourages  the 
devotion  of  his  disciples,  by  placing  the  virtue  of  his 
mediation  in  a  striking  variety  of  lights.  In  uttering 
the  language  already  quoted,  he  pledges  himself  to  the 
office  of  their  Personal  Intercessor;  “I  will  pray 
the  Father  for  you.”  He  who  could  not  see  them  ex¬ 
posed  to  destruction  without  pouring  out  his  life  to 
save  them,  could  not  behold  them  prostrate  at  the 
throne  of  grace,  as  trembling  suppliants,  without  rais¬ 
ing  them  up  and  becoming  their  advocate.  He,  who 
has  created  for  them  an  infinite  fund  of  merit,  could 
not  fail  to  employ  it  in  the  way  most  eminently  con¬ 
ducive  to  their  advantage  ;  causing  it  to  ascend,  in 
then-  behalf)  as  a  memorial  before  God,  at  the  moment 
of  their  entreaties  for  mercy.  It  is  to  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  while  on  earth,  he  did  nothing  for  himself. 
Having  graciously  engaged  to  be  our  substitute, 
whatever  he  did,  he  did  solely  for  his  people.  What 
then  has  become  of  the  inexhaustible  fund  of  obedi¬ 
ence  accruing  from  his  obedience  unto  death  P  How 
is  the  infinite  treasure  employed  ?  Where  is  it  de¬ 
posited?  By  proclaiming  himself  our  Intercessor, 
he  w  ould  have  us  to  know  that  the  entire  merit  of  all 
he  did  is  contained  as  incense  in  his  golden  censer, 
that  he  might  offer  it  up  with  the  prayers  of  his  peo¬ 
ple.  Our  prayers  then,  in  their  assent  to  the  throne 
of  God,  mingle  and  blend  with  the  ascending  in¬ 
cense  of  his  merit.  Our  voice,  before  it  reaches  the 
ear  of  God,  falls  in  and  blends  with  the  voice  of  him 
whom  the  Father  heareth  always.  So  that,  in  pledg¬ 
ing  himself  to  intercede  in  our  behalf,  he  is,  in  effect, 
assuring  us  of  the  certainty  of  our  success. 

10.  Another  encouragement  to  prayer,  which  he  de¬ 
rives  for  us  from  his  mediatorial  influence,  is  the  use 
ivhich  he  allows  us  to  make  of  his  name.  “  Ask,”  saith  he, 
“in  my  name."  Were  we  about  to  become  suppliants  to 


1IIS  ORIGINALITY. 


149 


an  earthly  benefactor,  it  would  be  important  to  ascer¬ 
tain  the  plea  most  likely  to  dispose  him  to  accede  to 
our  request.  For  there  is  always  one  argument 
which  affects  an  individual,  and  gives  us  the  key  to 
his  heart  more  effectually  than  all  others.  How  im¬ 
portant  is  it  then  that  we,  who  are  daily  suppliants  to 
God  for  blessings  on  which  our  salvation  depends, 
should  be  acquainted  with  that  plea  which  he  most 
delights  to  honor.  Now  the  plea  most  prevalent  with 
him  is  beyond  all  comparison,  the  name  of  Jesus.  It 
is  the  name  of  his  only  begotten  Son.  It  is  the  name 
which  he  has  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  honor. 
It  is  the  name  which  he  himself  has  conferred  in  to¬ 
ken  of  his  infinite  complacency  and  satisfaction.  It 
is  the  name  which  he  has  indissolubly  bound  up 
with  his  own  character  and  perfections,  so  that  he 
cannot  disregard  it  without  dishonoring  his  own 
name.  Employ  any  other  name,  as  a  plea  at  the 
throne  of  grace,  and  you  insult  the  majesty  of  heaven. 
But  employ  his  name,  and  you  instantly  attract  the 
complacent  attention  of  the  almighty  Father,  and  ob¬ 
tain  access  to  the  treasures  of  his  grace. 

“Hitherto,”  said  Christ,  “have  ye  asked  nothing  in 
my  name."  Up  to  that  moment,  in  the  history  of  the 
church,  devotion  had  been  ignorant  of  its  real 
strength ;  unacquainted  with  the  extent  of  resour¬ 
ces  and  power.  Relying  simply  on  the  promises  of 
God,  it  was  content  to  present  its  supplications,  ig¬ 
norant  of  the  ground  on  which  they  were  heard ; 
and  often  sighing,  in  the  paroxysms  of  conscious 
guilt,  for  a  days-man  and  intercessor.  But  Jesus  ex¬ 
plained  the  rationale  of  devotion  ;  laid  open  the  se¬ 
cret  of  our  success  ;  and  thus  enabled  it  to  feel  the 
power  which  it  has  with  God,  the  purchase  it  has  on 
the  eternal  throne.  “  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my  name,  he 
will  give  it  you  as  if  he  had  said,  “  When  you  go 
to  the  door  of  mercy,  and  knock,  make  use  of 
my  name  and  you  shall  gain  admission  ;  make  it 
known  that  you  belong  to  me,  and  my  Father  will 
13* 


150 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


treat  you  as  belonging  to  him  ;  make  it  known  that 
there  is  a  mutual  affection,  a  close  and  indissoluble 
friendship  subsisting  between  us,  and  my  father  will 
take  you  into  his  favor,  to  his  heart ;  tell  him  that  my 
name  is  dear  to  you,  and  it  will  endear  you  to  him  ; 
so  endear  you,  that  ask  what  you  will,  the  forgive¬ 
ness  of  your  sins,  adoption  into  his  family,  the  sanc¬ 
tification  of  your  nature,  the  riches  of  his  grace,  all, 
all,  he  will  give  it  you  ;  I  am  so  beloved  by  him,  that 
for  my  sake  he  will  refuse  you  nothing.” 

We  ourselves  are  accustomed  to  act  kindly  to¬ 
wards  a  person,  though  he  be  a  stranger  to  us,  provid¬ 
ed  he  can  show  us  that  he  is  related  to  one  whom  we 
love  ;  in  showing  him  kindness,  we  feel  that  we  are 
evincing  our  affection  for  the  friend  who  sent  him. 
The  Father  demonstrates  his  infinite  love  to  Christ, 
by  receiving  and  welcoming  the  friends  of  Christ  as 
his  own  friends.  He  has  pledged  himself  to  do  so  ; 
and  he  is  so  complacently  delighted  with  Christ ;  so 
fully  satisfied  with  the  atonement  he  has  made  ;  feels 
himself  so  unspeakably  glorified  by  the  incarnation 
and  life,  the  death  and  mediation  of  Christ ;  by  all 
that  he  has  done  for  the  honor  of  the  divine  govern¬ 
ment  and  the  salvation  of  man,  that,  if  I  may  say  so, 
he  has  thrown  open  his  heart  and  his  heaven  to  all 
the  friends  of  Christ.  They  come  to  his  throne  ; 
and,  on  the  intercession  of  Christ  in  their  behalf,  the 
Father  lays  open  all  the  treasures  of  his  grace  for  their 
appropriation  and  use.  “Yea,”  saith  Christ,  “ask  in 
my  name,  and  I  do  not  say  that  I  will  pray  the  Fath¬ 
er  for  you;  for  the  Father  himself  loveth  you  be¬ 
cause  ye  have  loved  me.”  “  Make  use  of  my  name, 
and  that  will  suffice ;  my  name  alone,  without  any  en¬ 
treaty  on  my  part,  would  be  a  certain  passport  to  my 
Father’s  heart,  and  to  all  the  riches  of  his  grace.” 
“  Wherefore,  ask  and  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be 
full.” 

Now  what  a  vast  acquisition  was  this  to  the  wealth 
of  devotion  ;  it  was  supplying  it  with  a  key  to  the  di¬ 
vine  treasury,  and  placing  it  in  a  position,  in  refer- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


151 


ence  to  the  throne  of  grace,  which  gave  to  it  an  om¬ 
nipotent  influence  with  him  who  sitteth  thereon. 
What  a  prodigious  advance  was  it,  in  one  sense,  even 
on  the  promise  of  his  personal  intercession  !  By  em¬ 
powering  his  people  to  employ  the  argument  of  his 
name,  he  is,  in  so  far,  placing  the  fund  of  his  merit 
at  their  disposal ;  affording  them  the  profound  satis¬ 
faction  of  bringing  it  into  the  presence  of  God,  and 
using  for  themselves  the  very  same  plea  which  he 
employs  for  them  ;  he  is  in  effect  pleading  for  them 
by  their  own  lips  as  well  as  with  his  own,  and  thus 
multiplying  the  voice  and  power  of  his  intercession. 
By  investing  them  with  this  privilege,  he  is  virtually 
clothing  them  with  priestly  vestments,  placing  them 
by  his  side  at  the  altar,  and  putting  into  their  hands 
a  censer  filled  with  incense  like  his  own. 

11.  But  further,  with  a  view  to  promote  the  devo¬ 
tion  of  his  disciples,  he  distinctly  engages  to  answer 
their  supplications.  “  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my 
name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified 
in  the  Son.  If  ye  shall  ask  any  thing  in  my  name,  I 
will  do  it.”  That  the  same  being  should  undertake, 
both  to  present  and  to  answer  their  petitions,  both  to 
intercede  for  them  and  to  confer  the  blessings  sought, 
may  appear  incompatible  ;  but  the  offices,  though 
distinct,  are  perfectly  reconcilable.  In  his  conduct  at 
the  altar  we  behold  the  Intercessor,  and  in  his  conduct 
on  the  throne  we  behold  the  result  and  reward  of  his 
intercession  :  having  become  the  medium  of  prayer 
from  man  to  God,  he  is  rewarded  by  being  made  the 
medium  of  blessing  from  God  to  man :  the  Interces¬ 
sor  for  human  penury,  is  constituted  the  Almoner  of 
infinite  bounty:  he  is  called  from  the  altar  of  incense, 
to  ascend  and  dispense  from  the  throne  of  God,  the 
blessings  which  he  has  sought  for  us. 

However  various  the  lights  then  in  which  we  be¬ 
hold  the  virtues  of  our  Lord’s  mediation,  it  is  evi¬ 
dent  that  one  principle  explains,  harmonizes,  and  en¬ 
compasses  the  whole — the  love  of  God  ;  that  they 
all  subserve  the  grand  aim  of  which  we  have  been 


152 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

speaking — the  manifestation  of  the  divine  character 
for  human  enouragement  and  salvation.  To  regard 
the  institution  of  the  intercessory  office,  as  necessary 
to  give  us  success  with  God,  is  an  injustice  to  his 
beneficence,  and  a  misapprehension  of  the  whole 
economy.  “  At  that  day,”  saith  Christ,  “ye  shall  ask 
me  nothing;  for  the  Father  himself  lovetli  you. 
And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that  will  I 
do,  that  the  Father  may  he  glorified  in  the  Son.”  Till 
our  fears  are  allayed,  and  our  distrust  removed,  the 
love  of  God  does  not  cease  to  heap  up  its  gifts,  and 
to  multiply  its  grams  and  appointments.  On  this 
principle  it  is,  that  the  throne  of  grace,  though  in  it¬ 
self  ineffably  attractive  as  occupied  by  infinite  love, 
is  made  additionally  attractive  by  the  appointment 
and  presence  of  a  benignant  Intercessor  :  as  if  God 
did  not  deem  its  attractions  complete  while  only  in¬ 
vested  with  the  might  of  his  own  love,  he  has  placed 
at  the  altar  before  it  an  Advocate  clothed  in  our  own 
nature.  On  our  way  to  the  seat  of  mercy  our  Inter¬ 
cessor  assures  us,  and  asks  us  to  receive  the  assur¬ 
ance  as  the  only  correct  interpretation  of  his  office, 
that  if  he  accompanies  and  introduces  us  to  God,  it 
is  not  because  God  requires  it  for  himself,  but  for  us  ; 
that  the  design  of  his  intercession  is,  not  to  excite, 
but  to  satisfy  the  love  of  the  Father — by  granting 
this  last  favor  to  our  fears.  There  is  a  spot  in  the 
universe  where  centers  all  dignity,  authority,  and 
power — the  focus  of  glory — that  spot  is  at  the  right 
hand  of  Deity ;  and  Jesus  assures  us  that  he  himself 
is  its  sole  occupant  in  the  capacity  of  our  Intercessor. 
Yes,  he  who  might  have  been  placing  a  vial  of  wrath 
in  the  hand  of  every  angel  around  his  throne,  with  a 
commission  to  pour  it  out  on  this  rebellious  world 
till  it  was  utterly  consumed,  is  standing  at  this  mo¬ 
ment  at  the  altar  of  incense,  presenting  our  prayers 
for  mercy,  and  officiating  there  as  our  great  high 
priest. 

“  Who  then  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  it  is  Christ 
that  died :  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen  again ;  who  is 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


153 


even  at  the  right  hand  of  God  ;  who  also  maketh  inter¬ 
cession  for  us  /”  This  is  an  argument  not  to  be  refut¬ 
ed,  a  climax  to  which  nothing  can  be  added  ;  lead¬ 
ing  us  upward,  step  by  step,  it  conducts  us  to  a  sum- 
met  where  all  is  unclouded  and  serene,  and  where 
we  can  breathe  the  air  of  security  and  triumph. 
While  standing  on  this  elevation,  by  the  side  of  our 
Intercessor,  and  in  the  light  of  the  throne  of  God, 
we  feel  that  no  foe  can  approach,  no  enemy  impeach 
us,  that  the  universe  is  at  peace  with  us. 

How  richly  is  Jesus  entitled  to  be  called,  the  Won¬ 
derful  !  The  view  indeed  which  has  now  been  tak¬ 
en  of  his  office  and  excellence,  is  hasty  and  defec¬ 
tive  :  had  it  been  much  less  unworthy  than  it  is,  it 
would  still  have  fallen  infinitely  short  of  the  gran¬ 
deur  of  the  subject ;  for  we  are  dilating  on  a  theme 
on  which  it  is  a  joy  to  reflect  that  perfection  is  unat¬ 
tainable.  But  crude  and  imperfect  as  our  remarks 
are,  they  will  have  answered  an  important  end,  if 
they  have  enabled  us  to  feel  this  ;  if  they  have  made 
us  sensible  that  we  are  engaged  on  a  theme,  which 
we  must  have  eternity  to  celebrate  and  comprehend. 
He  has  shown  us  that  even  the  mysteries  of  the  God¬ 
head  admit  of  increase  ;  for  he  has  added  to  them 
the  peculiarities  of  humanity,  and  adopted  the  sum 
of  them  all  into  his  own  person.  Besides  the  predi¬ 
cates  which  are  true  of  him  as  God,  and  those  which 
are  true  of  him  as  man,  by  combining  divinity  and 
humanity  together,  he  has  created,  if  I  may  say  so,  a 
third  class  of  truths  which  can  be  predicated  of  him, 
and  of  him  alone  ;  and  on  these,  as  they  relate  to  his 
mediatorial  office,  hangs  the  hope  of  the  perishing 
world. 

None,  before  his  advent,  had  ever  succeeded  in 
drawing  the  character  of  a  perfect  man  ;  he  not 
merely  described  but  exhibited  a  specimen  of  per¬ 
fect  humanity  conjoined  with  Deity ;  and  while  he 
preserved  the  characteristics  of  each  nature  distinct, 
he  showed  what  God  is,  and  what  man  should  be  ;  be¬ 
came  the  representative  of  God  and  the  exemplar  of 


154 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

men.  He  erected  a  new  order  of  greatness  ;  of  which 
the  laws,  conditions,  and  results — the  whole  arche¬ 
type — were  peculiarly  his  own.  He  gave  a  new 
economy  to  the  divine  government,  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  new  dispensation,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  reconcile  the  prerogatives  of  justice  and  com¬ 
passion  ;  and  to  do  this,  not  by  compromising  either, 
but  by  honoring  both  ;  by  enabling  mercy  to  punish 
without  impairing  its  clemency  or  its  claims  to  our 
love  ;  and  enabling  justice  to  forgive,  without  sacrific¬ 
ing  its  purity,  or  its  claims  on  our  awful  regards. 
The  rights  of  justice,  and  the  condition  of  sinful 
man,  were  essentially  hostile  :  they  had  diverged  to 
an  infinite  remoteness,  and  stood  frowning  at  each 
other,  as  from  opposite  sides  of  the  universe.  He 
laid  hold  on  the  nature  of  man :  and  planting  his 
cross  midway,  created  a  point  of  attraction  which 
reached  and  drew  them  across  the  separating  gulph, 
back  to  itself,  as  to  a  common  center.  Justice  mov¬ 
ed  from  its  high  and  awful  position  on  Sinai ;  and, 
with  all  the  armies  of  holiness,  brightening  and  still 
brightening  with  complacency  as  it  approached, 
bowed  with  reverence  at  the  cross,  and  said,  “  It  is 
enough.”  The  sinner,  detached  by  the  same  mag¬ 
netic  power  from  the  strong  confederacy  of  sin,  ap¬ 
proaches,  relents,  and  changes,  as  he  draws  near,  till 
he  falls  prostrate  before  the  cross,  a  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus.  By  giving  his  heart  to  sinners,  and  for 
them,  holiness  finds  that  it  has  nothing  to  ask,  nothing 
to  do  ;  only  to  raise  the  sinner  from  the  dust,  and  to 
become  the  guardian  of  his  new  life:  the  sinner 
finds  that  nothing  is  left  him  to  desire,  except  that  he 
may  never  wander  from  the  sight  of  that  cross  which 
has  made  him  the  ward  of  infinite  holiness,  and  is 
preparing  him  for  heaven.  Here  God  erects  his 
throne,  and  man  adores;  to  each  the  cross  is  ineffa¬ 
bly  precious  ;  for  it  is  only  in  its  immediate  presence 
that  sin  can  be  vanquished,  and  yet  the  sinner  be 
saved. 

While  this  amazing  consummation  was  in  actual 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


155 


process,  the  character  of  Christ  evolved  an  amount 
of  excellence  which  might  have  made  angelic  na¬ 
tures,  if  capable  of  the  feeling,  jealous  of  the  rivalry 
and  riches  of  earth.  The  eternal  Father  himself  be¬ 
held  in  it  more  than  an  indemnity  for  human  trans¬ 
gression  :  never  before  had  he  contemplated  a  work 
in  which  his  holiness  appeared  so  pure,  his  mercy  so 
amiable,  his  wisdom  so  profound  ;  he  saw  in  it  the 
stability  of  all  law,  the  recovery  of  man,  an  infinite 
augmentation  of  the  splendor  which  surrounds  his 
throne,  an  amount  of  objective  glory  such  as  he  had 
never  before  beheld  out  of,  and  apart  from  himself. 
And  as  if  this  new  relation  and  aspect  of  the  divine 
nature  had  been  an  experiment,  the  result  of  which 
more  than  answered  to  his  great  idea ;  as  if  the  ad¬ 
vent  of  Christ  surpassed  the  divine  expectation,  the 
sublime  phenomena  which  it  displayed,  called  forth 
audible  and  delighted  expressions  of  paternal  com¬ 
placency  and  love  ;  the  radience  of  the  divine  coun¬ 
tenance  fell  full  upon  them. 

The  dedication  of  the  Jewish  temple  was  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  the  earth.  All  Israel  was  assembled 
on  the  occasion :  and,  had  man  done  justice  to  the 
event,  all  the  world  would  have  flocked  and  kept 
festival ;  for  what  did  it  signify  but  that  the  great 
God  himself  was  become  a  dweller  with  man  upon 
the  earth.  But  the  dedication  of  Christ  was  worthy 
to  be  a  day  of  jubilee  to  the  universe.  Here  human 
instrumentality  was  dispensed  with,  as  unworthy 
the  greatness  of  the  occasion  ;  nothing  lower  than 
angelic  agency  was  employed  ;  the  arrangement  and 
process  was  wholly  divine.  His  only  human  herald 
was  directed  to  announce,  “  him  hath  God  the  Father 
sealed ; — he  needs  no  human  induction  or  testimony; 
he  enters  on  his  office  sealed  and  signalized  with  all 
the  marks  of  divinity  upon  him.”  He  proclaimed 
himself,  as  “him  whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified, 
and  sent  into  the  world.”  The  splendid  scene  at  his 
baptismal  inauguration,  when  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  the  Spirit  descended  upon  him,  was 


15G  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

only  the  after  imitation,  the  faint  repetition  of  a 
scene  in  heaven,  in  which  the  eternal  Father,  pass¬ 
ing  by  all  the  hosts  and  hierarchies  of  heaven,  had 
elected  and  devoted  him  to  the  office  of  his  divine  rep¬ 
resentative  and  our  mediator :  a  scene,  of  which  all 
the  thrones,  and  dominions,  and  principalities  of  heav¬ 
en  stood  around,  the  awed  and  admiring  spectators  ; 
and  in  which  the  only  share  they  took,  was  reverently 
and  joyfully  to  worship  him.  God  of  eternal  glory  ! 
thou  thyself  wast  never  so  glorious  in  thine  own  eyes 
as  at  that  moment,  never  so  great  in  the  eyes  of  thy 
creatures !  Could  thine  unbeginning  and  unending 
existence  admit  of  dates,  surely  that  would  stand  out 
as  an  era  in  thine  eternal  round  of  years.  Never 
was  the  ocean  of  thy  love  stirred  so  completely  to  its 
depths.  Never  didst  thou  put  forth  thine  hand  on  so 
glorious  an  occasion  as  then,  when  thou  didst  give  up 
and  devote  thine  only  begotton  Son,  to  the  great 
work  of  embodying  and  bringing  thy  character  in¬ 
to  the  world  that  men  might  behold  it  and  live ! 
And  thou,  co-equal  and  co-eternal  Son,  never  hadst 
thou  shone  more  glorious  in  the  eyes  of  paternal 
love,  nor  made  so  large  and  unanswerable  a  demand 
on  the  admiration  and  homage  of  the  universe,  as 
when,  accepting  thy  new  and  mysterious  office,  thou 
didst  say,  “  For  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself.”  In 
pursuance  of  thy  voluntary  engagement,  thou  didst 
come  and  offer  thyself  and  thy  glory  to  the  world  ; 
thou  didst  withdraw  thyself  from  the  grandeur  of 
heaven,  and  set  thyself  apart  to  the  wants  and  sorrows 
of  earth  ;  and,  having  set  up  thy  tabernacle  amongst 
us,  thou  didst  keep  it  consecrated  for  the  indwelling 
glory  and  for  the  worship  of  man.  Ambition  never 
entered  it :  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glo¬ 
ries  of  them,  were  brought  in  perspective  before 
thee  ;  but  thou  sawest  them  as  though  thou  sawest 
them  not.  Thou  couldest,  with  a  single  sentence, 
have  flashed  light  on  the  darkest  mysteries  of  sci¬ 
ence  ;  but  thou  wouldst  not  spare  a  moment  from 
teaching  that  sublimer  knowledge — the  science  of 


H1S  ORIGINALITY. 


157 


salvation.  Thou  liadst  ears  only  for  one  sound,  and 
that  was  the  sound  occasioned  by  sin  ;  the  voice  of 
penitence  imploring  forgiveness ;  the  voice  of  fear 
and  conscious  guilt  deprecating  the  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire.  Thou  liadst  eyes  only  for  one  sight — a 
wilderness  of  woe,  a  captive  world,  chained  to  the 
wheels  of  the  great  enemy,  and  already  arrived  in 
the  gloomy  precincts  of  hell.  This  object  filled  the 
whole  sphere  of  thy  vision  ;  thou  couldst  see  noth¬ 
ing  else ;  and  had  all  the  thrones  of  earth  been  va¬ 
cant  and  invited  thy  acceptance,  it  would  not  have 
induced  thee  to  diverge  a  single  step  from  the  path 
which  led  direct  to  the  cross.  Thou  liadst  tears  but 
for  one  object,  and  thou  didst  weep  them  over  lost 
souls.  So  fully  wast  thou  possessed  with  the  vast¬ 
ness  of  thy  design,  that  thou  didst  value  moments, 
faculties,  life  itself,  only  as  the  means  of  working  it 
out  :  and  through  every  step  of  thy  course  thou 
didst  bring  the  whole  of  thy  glory  to  bear  on  its 
completion.  Thou  liadst  not  to  cast  out  aught  evil 
from  thy  capacious  mind  ;  thou  hadst  not  to  sweep 
and  cleanse  the  temple  of  thy  soul  from  sordid  cares, 
for  never  didst  thou  know  a  thought  alien  from  thine 
object ;  and  though  all  the  fullness  and  fire  of  the 
passions  dwelt  in  thee,  thou  didst  not  waste  a  single 
feeling,  but  didst  devote  the  whole  as  consecrated 
fuel  for  offering  up  the  great  sacrifice  in  which  thy 
life  was  consumed,  and  by  which  the  world  might  be 
saved.  And  how  godlike  was  the  object  to  which 
he  set  himself  apart !  At  the  altar  of  God  he  swore 
eternal  war  against  the  principle  of  sin ;  devoted 
himself  to  the  work  of  chasing  it  from  the  earth,  of 
putting  it  to  shame  in  the  face  of  the  universe  ;  and 
of  achieving  this  task,  not  by  the  arbitrary  domination 
of  power,  but  by  merely  showing  what  God  is,  by 
the  exercise  of  omnipotent  love.  Were  we  to  hear 
of  a  design  contemplated  by  God,  to  subdue  the  re¬ 
bellion  of  hell,  and  to  rescue  its  victims :  what  a 
view  would  it  give  us  of  his  unresting  benevolence, 
and  with  what  impatient  longing  should  we  desire 
14 


158 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


to  know  the  way  in  which  the  sun  of  the  divine  glo¬ 
ry  would  arise  on  the  blackness  of  darkness,  and 
how  it  would  paint  its  lustre  on  the  clouds  of  perdi¬ 
tion.  But  the  importation  of  the  divine  character 
and  glory  to  earth,  in  the  person  of  Christ,  however 
from  circumstances  we  may  disparage  the  event, 
would  bear  a  comparison  even  with  that;  for  our 
carnal  mind  was  enmity  against  God  like  theirs, 
while  we  possessed  not  even  the  redeeming  quality, 
to  believe  and  tremble. 

It  seems  to  be  one  of  the  law's  of  mind,  that  it 
shall  be  not  merely  employed,  but  employed  to  the 
full ;  and  when  it  becomes  conscious  of  its  dignity 
and  powers,  nothing  less  than  great  objects  can  sat¬ 
isfy  it.  Now,  what  a  theatre  did  the  blessed  Jesus 
select,  what  an  object  did  he  adopt  in  coming  into 
the  world !  Let  us  receive  it  in  his  own  words  to 
the  eternal  Father  ;  “  For  their  sakes  T  sanctify  my¬ 
self,  that  they  may  be  sanctified  through  the  truth 
that  he  might  make  truth  do  the  work  of  power ; 
that  he  might  pervade  and  transform  pollution  into 
sanctity,  .by  merely  showing  it  the  face  of  truth  ;  that 
he  might  erect  living  temples  out  of  the  wreck  and 
refuse  of  humanity,  swept  by  the  besom  of  destruc¬ 
tion  to  the  very  mouth  of  perdition. 

Let  us  hear  him  repeat  the  design  in  other  lan¬ 
guage  ;  “I  have  declared  unto  them  thy  name,  and 
will  declare  it ;  that  the  love  ivhereivith  thou  hast  loved 
me  may  he  in  them,  and  I  in  them .”  He  contemplat¬ 
ed  nothing  less  than  the  conveyance  of  the  love  of 
God  to  man  ;  to  bring  it  to  us  as  our  portion  ;  entail 
it  on  us  as  our  inheritance  ;  transfuse  it  through  us  as 
our  life.  Like  the  prophet  emblematically  extending 
himself  over  the  dead  body  of  the  child,  to  convey 
life  into  all  its  parts,  the  Saviour  proposes  to  shed 
abroad  the  love  of  God  through  every  member  of 
his  body  the  church,  to  convey  the  circulating  vitali¬ 
ty  of  that  love  through  every  part  of  our  nature,  that 
it  may  dwell  in  us  as  it  does  in  him.  But  is  not  this 
an  unattainable  design  ?  is  it  possible  that  God  can 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


159 


love  us  as  he  loves  Christ?  Jesus  himself  declares, 
that  nothing  less  than  this  can  satisfy  his  desires  in 
our  behalf ;  and  we  may  rest  assured  that,  vast  as 
those  desires  are,  they  are  all  defined  and  accredited 
by  the  hand  of  infinite  wisdom  ;  they  are  only  the 
pulsations  of  the  heart  of  paternal  love  ;  they  are 
the  desires  of  one,  who  knows,  if  we  may  say  so, 
from  actual  admeasurement,  the  length  and  breadth, 
the  height  and  depth  of  the  love  of  God  ;  and  who 
knows  that,  as  soon  as  we  become  united  to  him,  the 
Father  loves  us  as  parts  of  Christ,  as  members  of 
that  mystical  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  glorified 
head.  The  tide  of  the  divine  love,  on  its  first  flow¬ 
ing  forth  from  the  heart  of  God,  found  its  rest  in 
Christ;  till  having  opened  for  itself  an  ample  chan¬ 
nel  through  his  sufferings  and  death  in  our  stead,  it 
poured  on  with  unabated  strength  to  reach  his  people, 
carrying  away  all  their  sins,  bearing  every  obstacle 
before  it,  and  shedding  itself  abroad  in  their  hearts  ; 
Christ,  at  the  same  time,  entering  with  it,  and  infi¬ 
nitely  augmenting  it  by  the  accession  ;  and  thus  re¬ 
alizing  his  great  and  godlike  design,  “that  the  love 
wherewith  thou  hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them,  and 
I  in  them.” 

So  great  was  the  avowed  intention  of  the  Redeem¬ 
er’s  advent,  that  none  but  a  mind  of  infinite  compass 
could  have  formed  it ;  and  so  amazing  the  manner 
in  which  he  achieved  it,  by  the  humble  organs  and 
instruments  of  humanity,  that  were  it  not  for  the  im¬ 
mortal  interests  at  stake,  we  could  scarcely  wonder 
at  the  ancient  heresy  which  taught  that  the  whole  of 
his  life  was  a  phantasm,  a  supernatural  illusion  of 
the  senses.  That  God  should  be  manifested  in  the 
flesh,  was  truly  the  mystery  which  had  been  hid 
from  ages,  and  from  generations.  That,  in  the  na¬ 
ture  of  a  man,  God  should  have  been,  like  light  in 
the  sun,  enthroned,  uttering  and  unburdening  infi¬ 
nite  love  with  his  tongue  ;  beaming  divine  compas¬ 
sion  through  his  eyes ;  illustrating  purity  and  grace 
by  his  actions — it  is  this  which  renders  the  person  of 


160 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Christ  ineffably  glorious  above  the  whole  creation  ; 
it  is  this  which  crowns  him  with  glory  and  honor. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  universe:  take  the 
wings  of  the  morning,  and  flee  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  ;  ransack  the  treasures  of  creation  ; 
visit  and  behold  its  brightest  glories,  plunge  into  the 
depths  beneath  ;  soar  to  the  heights  above  ;  survey 
and  question  the  blest  inhabitants  of  heaven  ;  and 
you  will  find  that  the  pei’son  of  Christ,  as  the  mani¬ 
fested  glory  of  God,  has  no  comparison.  Bring  all 
that  is  great  into  his  presence,  and  it  becomes  little  ; 
bring  all  that  is  glorious,  and  it  is  eclipsed  and  lost. 
Oil !  the  depth  of  the  riches  of  that  love,  wherein 
God  hath  abounded  towards  us  in  the  person  of  his 
Son.  When  we  begin  to  speak  of  it,  we  instantly 
feel  the  poverty  of  our  thoughts,  our  utter  unfitness 
to  approach  it.  It  is  a  subject  in  which  minds  of 
every  order  are  alike  lost ;  on  which  human  wisdom 
can  say  nothing ;  on  which  we  can  only  lisp  like  in¬ 
fants,  or  acknowledge  our  helplessness  by  our  silent 
adoration.  Here,  then,  is  the  peculiar  province  of 
faith  and  prayer ;  here  is  an  object  in  whose  pres¬ 
ence  our  Avisdom  becomes  ignorance ;  here  our 
understanding  is  completely  at  fault :  God  in  Christ 
is  an  object  so  stupendous  that  it  cannot  be  brought 
into  our  minds  ;  Ave  have  not  room  to  receive  it : 
this  truth  is  a  guest  so  glorious,  that  our  limited 
mind  feels  itself  both  unworthy  and  unable  to  re¬ 
ceive  it  under  its  roof;  our  faith  must  go  forth,  with 
all  the  train  of  Christian  graces,  and  do  it  homage. 
Like  the  apostle,  when  oppressed  in  its  presence 
Avitli  a  sense  of  its  immensity,  Ave  can  only  take  ref¬ 
uge  in  prayer,  beseeching  “the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  would  grant  ....  that 
we  may  be  able  to  comprehend  ....  and  to  knoAV 
the  love  of  Christ,  Avhich  passeth  knowledge.” 

We  have  already  remarked  the  profound  satisfac- 
faction  expressed  by  the  Father,  at  the  display  of 
his  character  in  the  person  of  Christ ;  a  satisfaction 
which  shoAved  that  he  beheld  in  it  the  perfect  reflec- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


1G1 


tion  of  his  own  image.  On  account  of  this  entire 
identity  of  character,  we  often  find  the  apostles 
speaking  of  the  eternal  Father  and  of  Christ,  in 
equivalent  and  convertible  terms.  Hence,  too,  the 
precedence  and  importance  assigned  to  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  Christ ;  and  the  promise  of  the  spirit,  for  the 
special  design  of  imparting  that  knowledge  ;  for  it  is 
only  by  acquainting  ourselves  with  the  character  of 
Christ  that  we  cau  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  God  ; 
our  knowledge  of  the  Son  is  the  exact  measure  of 
our  acquaintance  with  the  Father.  The  Regenerat¬ 
ing  Spirit,  in  all  his  operations  on  the  human  heart, 
makes  the  character  of  Christ  the  pattern  after 
which  he  works  ;  he  begins  by  taking  of  the  things 
of  Christ,  and  showing  them  to  the  eye  which  he 
has  prepared  to  behold  them  ;  and  he  ends  not,  till 
the  soul  is  completely  conformed  to  the  perfect 
model.  Believers  themselves  are  enamored  of  it,  for 
it  is  the  character  of  their  Saviour;  and  as  such, 
every  act  and  feature  composing  it  bears  a  direct 
relation  to  them.  They  can  think  of  no  excellence, 
can  make  not  the  remotest  approach  to  any  modifi¬ 
cation  of  goodness,  of  which  they  do  not  find  the 
archetype  and  perfection  in  him.  Turning  from 
every  other  representation  as  dim  and  veiled,  they 
all,  as  with  open  face  behold  him  in  the  glory  of  the 
Lord.  A  glance  at  this  object  fills  their  minds  with 
a  grand  and  overpowering  idea  of  excellence  ;  it 
draws  to  itself  the  whole  depth  and  mass  of  their  be¬ 
ing.  They  count  every  part  of  their  moral  discipline 
as  lost,  which  does  not  promote  their  likeness  to  his 
image ;  every  instance  in  which  the  ordinances  of 
grace  do  not  increase  their  love  to  him,  they  regard 
as  a  fresh  call  to  humiliation,  a  fresh  provocative  to 
self-examination  and  prayer ;  while  every  act  of  de¬ 
votion  they  deem  especially  defective,  which  does 
not  celebrate  his  glory,  or  implore  an  accession  of 
“  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  in  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  him.” 

If  a  life  of  piety  may  be  considered  a  life  of  praise 

14# 


1G2 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


to  God ;  if  man  is  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made, 
that  even  a  discourse  on  the  use  of  the  parts  of  his 
body  may  be  regarded  as  a  hymn  to  the  Creator, 
where  shall  we  find  terms  fit  to  describe  the  attri¬ 
bute  of  Glory  to  God  which  accrues  from  the  life  of 
Christ  ?  or,  could  we  appreciate  his  character  in  all 
its  perfections,  what  expressions  of  ecstacy  and  de¬ 
light  would  do  justice  to  its  worth  ?  Nature  from 
the  beginning,  had  been  vocal  in  her  Maker’s  praise  ; 
had  been  constant  and  full  in  an  anthem,  in  which 
every  creature  bore  its  part ;  but  the  whole  creation 
in  chorus  could  not  show  forth  all  his  praise,  could 
but  barely  hint  his  excellence.  As  if  conscious  of 
the  defect,  and  anxious  to  repair  it  by  commencing 
anew,  piety  had  often  restrung  her  harp,  and  sum¬ 
moned  the  creatures  to  arise  and  aid  her  in  the  infi¬ 
nite  attempt ;  had  called  on  every  thing  that  hath 
breath  to  join  in  a  full  concert  of  praise  to  God.  But 
her  utmost  effort  was  only  a  preluding  flourish,  till 
he  should  come  to  lead  the  song,  who  had  said,  “In 
the  midst  of  the  church  will  I  sing  praise  unto  thee.” 
He  took  up  the  strain  at  a  point  beyond  which  crea- 
tion  would  never  have  carried  it.  His  voice  gave  the 
key-note  to  the  universe.  His  description  of  the 
divine  character  furnished  words  for  the  new,  ever¬ 
lasting,  universal  song.  His  unconfined  power ;  his 
unsearchable  understanding  ;  his  holiness,  on  which 
no  spot,  no  shadow  could  settle,  and  which  the  eyes 
of  wickedness  could  not  gaze  on  for  its  brightness  ; 
his  untiring  patience;  his  constant  community  with 
the  general  heart  of  man,  which  he  wept  over  and 
bathed  in  tears  :  his  meekness  clothed  with  majesty  ; 
his  personification  of  infinite  love :  these  were  the 
several  parts  of  the  harmonious  song.  AH  the  attri¬ 
butes  in  him  became  vocal,  and  made  infinite  music 
in  the  ear  of  that  glorious  Being  in  whom  they  eter¬ 
nally  reside.  Each  myriad-voiced  rank  of  the  church 
above,  overflowing  with  joy,  took  up  the  mighty, 
whelming,  ocean  strain  :  the  church  below  redoub¬ 
led,  and  returned  it  back  again  in  alleluias  to  the 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


163 


throne  of  God  ;  age  after  age  has  heard  it  swelling 
on,  as  lisping  infancy,  and  newly  pardoned  penitence, 
and  misery  beguiled  of  its  woes,  and  ingratitude 
charmed  into  thankfulness,  and  hope  spreading  her 
pinions  for  heaven,  and  all  the  new-born  heirs  of 
grace  have  awoke  up  their  glory,  and  joined  the  gen¬ 
eral  choir ;  and  on  it  shall  continue  to  roll  and  swell, 
attuning  and  gathering  to  itself  all  the  harmonies  of 
nature  ;  till  all  space  shall  become  a  temple ;  and  all 
holy  beings,  actuated  by  one  Spirit,  and  swayed  in 
perfect  diapason,  shall  become  one  great  instrument, 
sounding  forth  “  praise  to  God  in  the  church,  by 
Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end. 
Amen.” 


SECTION  III. — OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 
“  This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit.” 


It  is  extremely  difficult  to  discriminate  between 
originality  and  mere  novelty  in  a  public  teacher. 
The  multitude  are  so  prone  to  take  their  opinions 
from  first  impulses,  rather  than  from  judgment; 
inconsiderately  and  impetuously  to  ascribe  a  new 
and  pleasing  impression  to  the  highest  possible  ori¬ 
gin,  rather  than  to  any  secondary  cause  ;  that  many 
a  public  instructor  has  been  invested  with  the  high¬ 
est  prerogative  of  genius,  whose  only  attraction  was, 
that  he  had  assumed  one  of  the  thousand  vizors 
which  novelty  owns,  and  wore  it  gracefully.  And 
what  enhances  the  difficulty  of  discrimination  is, 
that  while  it  is  in  the  power  of  an  inferior  mind  to 
invest  a  familiar  truth  with  an  air  of  singularity,  it  is 
one  of  the  attributes  of  the  highest  order  of  intellect, 
and  an  attribute  which  it  delights  to  exercise,  to  sim¬ 
plify  an  original  truth,  and  give  to  it  an  air  of  famil- 


164 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


iarity;  to  secure  for  it  an  easy  introduction  into  the 
mind,  by  giving  it,  though  a  stranger,  the  welcome 
aspect  of  a  friend. 

The  difficulty  of  discrimination  is  further  increas¬ 
ed,  when  the  truths  to  be  judged  of  date  back  to  a 
remote  antiquity  ;  when,  by  distance  of  time,  which 
operates  in  this  case  like  distance  of  space,  the  opin¬ 
ions  which  looked  bold  and  prominent  to  the  near 
beholder,  have  mingled  and  melted  into  one  mass  of 
indistinctness. 

We  have  advanced  the  claim  of  originality  for  ma¬ 
ny  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Great  Teacher ;  and  were 
the  Old  Testament  the  only  witness  to  be  examined, 
the  claim  might  be  easily  substantiated.  But  dur¬ 
ing  the  long  silence  of  the  divine  oracle,  during  the 
space  which  intervened  from  the  last  words  of  Ma- 
lachi  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  we  know  not  what 
opinions  grew  up  and  prevailed.  It  is  only  reason¬ 
ing  on  the  known  principles  of  humanity  to  say,  that 
when  the  living  voice  of  inspiration  had  ceased  to 
speak,  the  sacred  volume  was  much  more  likely  to 
receive  the  undivided  attention  of  the  church  than 
before.  And  with  a  volume  so  seminal  of  all  truth, 
so  constantly  whispering  in  the  ear  of  hope,  as  the 
Bible,  who  can  say  what  approaches  were  made  to 
many  evangelical  doctrines  ;  what  prophets  of  hope 
arose  ?  And  when  once  opinions,  to  which  the 
wants  or  aspirations  of  the  soul  respond,  have  been 
broached,  who  can  say  to  what  consolidation  or  sta¬ 
bility  they  may  attain  ?  The  feathered  seed,  which 
this  year  floats  in  the  air  ;  the  emblem  of  volatility ; 
a  feather  dropped  from  the  wing  of  levity ;  will  next 
year,  be  found  rooted  in  the  earth  ;  dividing  with  the 
oak  the  spoils  of  the  clouds,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
blessings  of  heaven,  itself  a  seed-bearing  plant.  And 
the  floating  guess  of  one  age  becomes  the  settled 
creed  of  a  succeeding;  its  point-like  base  is  forgot¬ 
ten  ;  and  men  go  on  building  an  inverted  pyramid 
whose  top  may  reach  to  heaven :  it  is  congenial  with 
one  or  other  of  the  elements  of  humanity,  and,  by 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


165 


passing  through  a  thousand  minds,  it  acquires  a  con¬ 
sistency  and  power  which  gives  it  a  place  among 
the  realities  of  our  being. 

By  what  process  then  shall  we  ascertain  how 
much  of  the  gospel  is  an  absolute  origination  ;  or 
how  much  is  a  mere  adoption  and  authorization 
of  pre-existing  opinions  ?  Taking  many  other  tests 
for  granted,  it  may  be  suggested,  that  the  amount  of 
new  truth  contained  in  the  gospel,  or  the  degree  of 
newness  belonging  to  any  one  of  its  doctrines,  may 
be  conjectured  from  the  number  of  errors  which 
have  sprung  up  around  it.  Truth  is  antecedent  to 
error  and  the  measure  of  it ;  as  is  the  originality  of  a 
doctrine  or  system,  in  the  same  proportion  will  be 
the  multiplicity  of  errors  following.  The  whole  tribe 
of  error  is  parasitical,  and  can  only  grow  by  hanging 
its  envenomed  weight  on  the  plants  of  truth.  Let 
the  doctrines  of  Christ  be  judged  of  in  this  way;  the 
plants  of  the  Lord’s  right  hand  planting,  and  the  ori¬ 
ginality  of  his  teaching  will  be  apparent  to  all. 

The  doctrine  of  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is 
one  of  the  most  original  which  came  from  the  lips  of 
Christ ;  and  one  whose  precise  degree  of  originality 
is  most  marked  and  ascertainable.  Referring  to  the 
records  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  learn  the  distinc¬ 
tion  of  the  Spirit  in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead ;  his 
personality  and  his  divinity.  We  read  of  the  same 
divine  subsistence  as  daily  replenishing  the  earth 
with  life  and  beauty ;  as  visiting  and  actuating  the 
moral  world  at  pleasure  ;  and  as  promised  to  the 
church,  with  a  frequency,  particularity,  and  magnifi¬ 
cence  of  language,  which  showed  that  the  divine 
Promiser  himself  regarded  the  gift  as  identical  with 
a  state  of  distinguished  prosperity  ;  and  which  led 
believers  to  mark  it  with  supreme  distinction,  by 
calling  it  the  promise. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  a  dis¬ 
tinct  and  divine  person,  the  teaching  of  Christ  is 
clear  and  conclusive  :  nor  can  we  conceive  any  thing 
more  unwelcome,  to  those  who  shrink  from  apply- 


1G6 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ing  the  personal  pronouns  to  the  Divine  Spirit,  than 
the  valedictory  discourse  of  Christ  to  his  disciples.* 
If  I  do  not  enlarge  on  this  part  of  the  subject  then, 
let  it  he  understood,  that  I  refrain  not  because  Christ 
was  silent  on  it ;  for  he,  I  repeat,  was  copious  and 
explict ;  but  because  he  had  been  greatly  anticipated 
by  the  revelation  of  the  Old  Testament. 

I.  It  is  worthy  of  our  earliest  consideration,  both 
from  its  native  importance,  and  from  the  peculiar  so¬ 
lemnity  of  the  affirmation,  that  our  Lord  described 
the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  absolutely  depend¬ 
ent  on  his  own  return  to  heaven.  “Nevertheless,  I 
tell  you  the  truth,  it  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away ;  for,  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Spirit  will  not  come 
unto  you  ;  but,  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you.” 
Now,  admitting  the  impropriety  of  any  arrangement 
which  should  have  combined  together  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit  and  the  personal  residence  of  Christ  in 
permanent  conjunction  on  earth,  it  may  be  inquired 
why  the  mission  of  the  Spirit  could  not  have  taken 
place  immediately  before  the  ascension  of  Christ,  as 
well  as  immediately  after  ?  If  the  inquirer  be  sin¬ 
cere,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  reply,  “  Even  so,  Fa¬ 
ther  :  for  so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight.”  The 
arrangement  may  have  been  founded  on  reasons  of 
state ;  reasons,  which  measure  with  the  universe,  as 
comprehensive  as  the  divine  government,  and  the 
issues  of  which  are  placed  far  in  eternity.  But  many 
of  the  reasons  for  this  arrangement  are  apparent ; 
the  Almighty  evinced  by  it  his  reverence  for  order. 
He  was  evolving  a  plan  of  infinite  magnitude,  the 
unfolding  of  which  had  commenced  at  the  fall ;  he 
had  arrived  at  a  vital  part  of  it,  a  part  on  which  he 
would  have  mankind  in  all  ages  to  fix  their  gaze  ; 
and  he  therefore  caused  it  to  unfold  and  pass  before 

*  On  the  ineffable  promanation  or  procession  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  though  it  is  a 
truth  which  seems  necessarily  involved  in  certain  parts 
of  that  discourse,  I  presume  not  to  speak. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


167 


their  eyes  in  slow  and  stately  procession.  He  knew 
that  man  is  easily  distracted  by  multiplicity  of  ob¬ 
jects  ;  is  extremely  liable  to  place  the  cause  for 
the  effect,  and  the  effect  for  the  cause  ;  is  taught 
most  effectually  by  example  ;  is  prone  to  disregard  a 
future  good,  so  long  as  be  can  retain  a  present 
though  inferior  blessing :  on  all  these  accounts, 
therefore,  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  with¬ 
held  until  Christ  had  ascended  to  bis  appointed 
throne.  The  Almighty  would  signalize  the  en¬ 
thronement  of  Christ  in  the  eyes  of  the  universe; 
would  impress  the  minds  of  believers  with  the  glori¬ 
ous  reception  which  their  Head  had  met  with  on  his 
return  to  heaven  ;  would  enjoy  the  infinite  satisfac¬ 
tion  of  hearing  the  first  prayer  of  that  exalted  Head 
for  the  promised  Spirit ;  and  thus  demonstrate  to 
them,  at  once  and  for  ever,  the  certain  prevalency  of 
his  intercession  ;  for  if  his  first  prayer  succeeded  in 
obtaining  for  us  the  great  gift  of  the  Spirit,  how 
much  more  shall  he  secure  for  us  every  inferior 
good  ;  God  would  show  us  in  the  most  impressive 
manner,  by  placing  the  fact  In  the  strong  light  of  the 
mediatorial  throne,  that  the  connexion  of  the  work 
of  Christ  with  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  the  absolute 
connexion  of  cause  and  effect. 

“He  spake  of  the  Spirit  which  they  that  believe 
bn  him  should  receive  ;  for  the  Spirit  was  not  yet 
given  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified. .”  Can 
we  suppose  that  his  assension  to  heaven  was  a  silent 
and  private  transaction  ?  Shall  Elijah  ascend  in  a 
chariot  of  fire  ?  shall  the  departed  spirit  of  a  Lazarus 
be  conveyed  by  angels  to  Abraham’s  bosom  ?  and 
shall  the  Lord  of  angels  himself  return  to  his  own 
dominions  from  the  conquest  of  one  world,  and  the 
redemption  of  another,  unattended  and  obscure  ? 
No  ;  “  The  chariots  of  God,  on  the  occasion,  werb 
twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels.”  At  the 
point  where  he  vanished  from  the  view  of  mortals, 
he  was  joined  by  the  rejoicing  ranks  of  the  cheru¬ 
bim  and  seraphim  ;  he  found  them  arranged  to  re- 


168  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

ceive  him  ;  impatient  to  commence  the  celebration 
of  his  deeds,  and  to  conduct  him  in  triumph  to  his 
glorious  throne.  His  appearance  was  the  signal  to 
begin  the  song  :  they  called  on  earth  to  assist  them 
in  the  mighty  task,  “Sing  unto  God,  ye  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  :  O  sing  praises  unto  the  Lord ;  to  him 
that  rideth  upon  the  heaven  of  heavens.”  That  was 
the  moment  when  the  universe  became  the  vehicle 
of  his  glory  ;  when  he  began  to  ride  on  the  summit 
of  creation  ;  having  all  the  events  and  revolutions  of 
time  for  his  chariot  wheels.  Hitherto,  as  man,  lie 
had  inhabited  the  material  parts  of  the  creation  ;  but 
now  he  relinquished  these  and  took  possession  of  the 
intelligent  parts.  He  began  to  inhabit  the  praises  of 
eternity :  not  merely  the  spiritual  universe,  but  even 
the  essence  of  that ;  the  life  of  the  spiritual  universe, 
exhaling  in  the  incense  and  fragrance  of  praise. 
He  found  himself  enthroned  far  above  all  heavens, 
with  the  heights  of  creation  for  his  footstool. 

It  had  been  predicted,  and  he  himself  had  con¬ 
firmed  the  expectation,  that  when  he  ascended  up 
on  high,  he  would  give  gifts  unto  men.  But  what 
gift  can  Christ  bestow  rich  enough  to  signalize  and 
grace  his  ascension  to  the  mediatorial  throne  ?  had 
he  collected  together  all  the  treasures  of  the  earth, 
and  multiplied  them  a  thousand-fold,  and  then  pour¬ 
ed  them  out  at  the  feet  of  his  people,  the  gift  would 
have  been  utterly  inadequate  to  the  greatness  of  the 
occasion ;  had  all  created  good  been  accumulated 
upon  them  to  the  highest  possible  amount,  it  would 
only  have  disgraced  the  greatness  of  the  occasion. 
The  unconfined  benevolence  of  his  heart  impelled 
him  to  give  something,  (for  it  was  the  jubilee  of 
heaven,)  and  if  he  gave,  he  would  be  sure  to  bestow 
a  gift  worthy  of  himself,  answerable  to  the  magni¬ 
tude  of  the  occasion,  honorable  to  the  royalty  of  his 
grace.  But  if  such  is  the  character  of  the  gift ;  the 
Spirit,  the  divine  Spirit,  the  converting,  enlightening, 
sanctifying,  saving  Spirit  alone,  must  be  the  doixation. 
Because  he  would  give  all  gifts  in  one,  he  gave  to 
them  the  Holy  Spirit. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


169 


A  very  limited  measure  of  this  gift,  indeed ;  the 
mere  earnest  of  the  Spirit ;  had  been  enjoyed  under 
the  Jewish  dispensation  :  but  the  Spirit  in  his  full¬ 
ness  was  not  then  given,  because  the  framework  of 
that  economy  was  too  material  to  be  inhabited  and 
actuated  by  the  Spirit;  and  because  Jesus,  for 
whose  bestowment  the  gift  was  reserved,  was  not 
yet  glorified.  But,  during  the  whole  economy*  the 
influences  of  the  Spirit  had  been  accumulating  for 
that  auspicious  moment.  Prayers  had  been  daily 
ascending  for  the  fulfillment  of  “  the  promise and, 
of  all  these  earnest  supplications,  not  one  had  been 
lost ;  each  of  them  had  been  turned  into  the  bles¬ 
sing  sought  for,  and  had  added  something  to  the 
treasures  of  divine  influence.  The  church  had  been 
incessantly  importuning  God  to  hasten  the  imparta- 
tion  of  the  gift ;  and,  with  profound  satisfaction,  he 
had  beheld  a  stream  of  supplication  flowing  for  ages 
into  the  same  channel,  without  a  moment’s  pause, 
swelling  and  rising,  till  it  was  ready  to  overflow  and 
pour  forth  a  healing  flood  of  heavenly  influence  over 
the  world.  Nothing  was  wanting,  but  that  Christ 
should  add  his  intercession.  Nothing  was  wanting, 
but  that  he  should  ascend  his  throne,  and  claim  the 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  to  pour  it  out  upon  his  people. 

‘*He  ascended  up  on  high,  leading  captivity  cap¬ 
tive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men.”  Having  reached  his 
throne,  the  Spirit  came  down  as  he  had  promised ; 
came  like  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  filling  the  whole 
house  where  the  disciples  were  assembled,  filling  each 
heart,  filling  the  whole  church  ;  came  with  a  copi¬ 
ousness  and  a  power  as  if  his  influence  had  for  ages 
been  pent  up  and  under  restraint,  and  now  rejoiced 
at  being  able  to  pour  themselves  out  over  the  church 
and  the  world.  And  what  was  the  immediate  effect 
of  that  event  ?  thousands  were  instantly  concerted  ; 
and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  seemed  newly  edged 
with  power,  and  bathed  in  the  lightnings  of  heaven, 
flashing  conviction  on  human  consciences,  and  pierc¬ 
ing  to  the  recesses  of  the  soul.  The  gospel  went 
15 


170 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


flying  abroad  to  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth,  levy¬ 
ing  human  hearts  in  the  name  of  Christ  wherever  it 
came.  The  influences  of  the  spirit  poured  over  the 
world  like  an  inundation,  a  new  deluge,  overturning 
the  altars  and  sweeping  away  the  vestiges  of  idolatry ; 
and,  had  the  vital  flood  continued  to  roll  on,  the  only 
altar  left  standing  would  have  been  that  which  sanc- 
tifieth  the  gift  and  the  giver — the  altar  of  the  cross. 
New  territories  were  added  to  the  domains  of  the 
church;  vast  tracts  of  the  moral  wilderness  were  ta¬ 
ken  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  The  church  be¬ 
held  her  converts  flocking  to  her  from  all  directions, 
like  clouds  of  doves  to  their  windows :  and  among 
the  wonders  of  that  period,  one  was,  to  see  her  ene¬ 
mies  lick  the  dust ;  to  see  her  bitterest  persecutors 
become  her  champions  and  her  martyrs ;  to  see  leop¬ 
ards  become  lambs,  and  wolves  become  kids. 

The  church  became  one  region  of  life,  of  divine 
vitality  throughout ;  in  which  whosoever  bi*eathed, 
lived — enjoyed  life  in  perfection.  From  a  state  of 
unsightly  barrenness  and  drought,  it  was  suddenly 
covered  with  verdure,  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 
Believers  themselves  seemed  re-converted  ;  if  sin¬ 
ners?  became  saints,  saints  themselves  became  as  an¬ 
gels  ;  thus  fulfilling  the  prophecy  which  had  said, 
“  The  weak  shall  be  as  David,  and  David  as  an  angel 
of  the  Lord.”  Every  Christian  saw  in  every  other 
the  face  of  an  angel,  looks  of  benevolence  and  broth¬ 
erly  love  ;  one  interest  prevailed  ;  one  subject  of  em¬ 
ulation  swallowed  up  every  other  ;  who  should  ap¬ 
proach  nearest  to  the  likeness  of  Christ ;  which 
should  do  the  most  for  the  enlargement  of  his  reign. 
“  The  whole  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were  of 
one  heart,  and  of  one  mind the  Spirit  of  Christ 
animated  the  whole,  became  the  one  heart  of  the 
whole  community,  and  every  particular  pulse  beat 
in  concert  with  it.  What  a  gift  was  this  !  The  value 
of  a  gift  depends  materially  on  its  suitableness ;  what 
could  be  more  suitable  to  a  world  dying,  dead  in  sin, 
than  the  spirit  of  life  and  of  holiness.  The  world 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


171 


was  a  valley  of  dry  bones  ;  what  could  be  more  wel¬ 
come  than  that  the  Spirit  should  come  and  breathe 
upon  these  slain  that  they  might  live ;  that,  descend¬ 
ing  to  this  moral  Golgotha,  this  place  of  skulls,  he 
should  give  a  soul  to  the  world,  and  again  replenish 
it  with  spiritual  life.  How  munificent  was  this  gift! 
It  was  munificent  in  itself,  in  its  kind,  for  it  was  the 
best ;  and  it  was  also  munificent  in  its  degree,  for  he 
poured  it  forth  in  a  profusion  of  gifts  and  graces.  It 
was  owing  to  no  indigence,  to  no  niggardliness  on 
the  part  of  Christ,  that  his  church  did  not  rapidly  ex¬ 
tend  over  the  world,  and  that  the  whole  was  not  filled 
with  the  Spirit.  He  gave  with  a  liberality  that  show¬ 
ed  that  he  tasted  his  own  act,  enjoyed  the  godlike 
act  of  giving,  gratified  himself  in  the  exercise  of  his 
benignity.  How  godlike  was  this  gift !  Had  man 
been  consulted  on  the  occasion,  he  would  have  asked 
some  inferior  good ;  but  Jesus,  taking  the  affair  en¬ 
tirely  into  his  own  hands,  poured  out  his  Holy  Spirit 
— a  blessing  intended  to  make  us  holy  like  himself, 
happy  like  himself,  and  even  one  with  himself ;  for, 
by  giving  us  his  Spirit,  he  may  be  said  to  have  given 
us  himself,  to  have  turned  himself  into  Spirit,  into  a 
fountain  of  divine  influence  that  he  may  be  one  with 
our  spirits. 

II.  The  great  object  of  the  advent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  thus  distinctly  specified  by  Christ:  “  When 
He  is  come,  he  shall  convince  the  world  of  sin 
an  announcement  which  Jesus  himself  must  have 
felt  as  a  wonderful  truth.  Standing  as  he  did  at  that 
moment  to  near  the  cross,  in  the  shadow  of  that  awful 
monument  of  human  guilt,  be  could  not  have  glanc¬ 
ed  around  on  the  scene  of  enormous  and  complicated 
guilt  he  was  about  to  leave,  and  forward  to  the  tri¬ 
umph  and  agency  of  the  descending  spirit,  without 
feeling,  as  he  uttered  this  grand  prediction,  that  he 
was  unbnrthening  his  mind  of  a  weighty  and  glorious 
communication. 

An  obvious  and  striking  feature  of  all  the  divine 
operations,  is  the  accomplishment  of  the  most  com- 


172 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


prehensive  and  important  ends,  by  few  and  simple 
means.  Such  is  the  nice  dependence  of  every  part 
in  his  government  on  every  other  part,  and  such  the 
entire  harmony  of  the  whole,  that  he  only  touches 
an  almost  invisible  chord,  and  the  vibration  is  felt 
to  the  extremities  of  the  universe  :  how  tremendous 
then  must  that  principle  of  evil  be,  which  can  only 
be  subdued  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit ;  by  the 
advent  and  accession  of  the  third  person  in  the  aw¬ 
ful  Godhead  ;  by  no  modified  energy,  but  by  the  full 
almightiness  of  divine  power.  And  tremendous  it 
was  !  The  world  had  become  the  grave  of  piety :  if 
the  principle  of  piety  showed  itself  vigorous  and  ac¬ 
tive,  it  became  the  mai-k  for  every  shaft  and  weapon 
of  hell ;  if  it  was  impotent,  it  soon  sickened  and  sunk 
under  the  pestilential  atmosphere  which  sin  had  uni¬ 
versally  diffused  ;  angelic  piety  itself  woidd  have 
found  a  sepulcher  here.  Not  only  was  the  world  des¬ 
titute  of  all  native,  active  goodness ;  a  principle  of 
evil,  another  Spirit,  embodying  all  the  essences  of 
evil,  was  here,  and  at  work.  But  did  man  show  no 
signs  of  resistance  to  this  alien  Spirit  ?  not  a  single 
indication  of  spiritual  conflict  appeared  ;  all  was  si¬ 
lent,  unconstrained  submission,  for  this,  to  use  the 
emphatic  language  of  inspiration,  is,  “  where  Satan’s 
seat  is.” 

Now  by  what  means  shall  this  mass  of  disorder, 
darkness  and  death,  be  renovated  ?  The  divine  be¬ 
nevolence  had  been  prodigal  of  its  means  ;  but,  as  to 
any  permanent  good  they  had  failed.  Experience 
had  shown,  that  it  was  easier  to  crush  and  destroy 
the  world,  than  to  reform  it.  The  Son  of  God  him¬ 
self  had  descended  ;  but,  as  if  determined  by  one  des¬ 
perate  act  to  shut  out  all  further  communications 
from  above,  as  if  to  intimidate  the  mercy  of  Omnip¬ 
otence,  they  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory.  What  ex¬ 
pedient,  then,  we  ask,  remains  to  be  employed  ?  Oh! 
how  boundless  are  the  divine  resources  !  how  grand  ! 
how  amazing  the  provision  1  It  was  not  that  our 
woidd  should  be  the  scene  of  a  splendid  angelic  ad- 


HI3  ORIGINALITY. 


173 


ministration,  and  be  charmed  into  a,  love  of  piety  by 
their  graceful  exhibition  of  it :  it  was  not  that  our 
world  should  be  placed  in  dreadful  proximity  to  hell, 
and  be  awed  into  sullen  but  silent  submission  by  the 
sight  of  worms  that  die  not,  and  of  fires  that  are  not 
quenched  :  it  was  not  that  our  world  should  be  rais¬ 
ed  into  the  precincts  of  heaven  ;  that  the  sight  of  a 
Being  we  had  rejected,  there  enthroned  in  light,  and 
surrounded  by  the  sanctities  of  heaven  might  sur¬ 
prise  us  into  involuntary  adoration.  No,  saith  Christ, 
“My  Spirit  alone  is  competent  to  the  task  ;  and  when 
He  is  come  He  shall  convince  the  world  of  sin.  External 
applications  would  only  produce,  at  best,  a  tempora¬ 
ry  reaction  of  mind:  the  agency  that  shall  succeed 
in  transforming  it,  must  include  the  power  of  coming 
into  immediate  contact  with  it,  and  of  having  at  com¬ 
mand  whatever  can  suitably  affect  it.  I  have  a  cause 
lying  against  mankind  ;  and  he  shall  be  my  Advocate. 
I  have  an  indefeasible  claim  on  the  human  heart ; 
and  he,  the  Great  Pleader,  shall  enforce  it  on  the  con¬ 
sciences  of  men.  He  shall  go  into  all  the  world  as¬ 
serting  my  right,  vindicating  my  claims,  and  writing 
my  name  upon  human  hearts  ;  and  he  shall  pass  in¬ 
to  every  region  of  the  soul,  diffuse  himself  through 
all  its  capacities  and  recesses,  throwing  light  into  the 
understanding,  assailing  and  subverting  the  fortress 
of  sin  in  the  heart,  and  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  me  from  all  its  redeemed  powers.” 

Accordingly,  in  the  discharge  of  his  awful  func¬ 
tions,  the  Spirit  addresses  himself  to  the  hearts  of 
men.  There  is  sin  lying  upon  them,  enormous  sin  ! 
and  his  object  is  to  convince  them  of  it.  Oh  !  how 
solemn  the  transaction  !  how  mysterious  the  process  ! 
how  critical  the  juncture  !  The  instrument  employ¬ 
ed  may  be,  in  itself,  the  most  simple  and  inefficient ; 
hearing  the  gospel,  or  reading  it,  or  recalling  some 
truth  to  mind;  but  while  the  eye,  or  the  ear,  or 
the  memory  are  thus  engaged,  and  all  without 
seems  at  rest,  the  Spirit  is  at  work  within,  bringing 
the  truth  forward  into  the  strong  light  of  distinct 
15* 


174 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


consciousness ;  rendering  it  irresistible  by  taking 
away  the  very  will  of  resisting  ;  turning  it  into  a  liv¬ 
ing  conviction,  and  incorporating  it  among  the  spir¬ 
itual  realities  of  the  soul.  There  are  times,  when  all 
sensation  seems  collected  into  a  point,  and  we  live 
only  in  the  eye  or  the  ear  :  and  when  the  Invisible 
Spirit  is  at  work  within,  creating  a  new  heart,  the 
faculties  and  energies  of  our  whole  being  seem  col¬ 
lected  into  a  focal  point — the  entire  soul  becomes 
conscience.  Having  seated  and  centered  himself 
there,  the  whole  mass  and  depth  of  our  being  is 
drawn,  slowly  perhaps,  yet  certainly  drawn  to  him, 
owning  his  power,  and  trembling  at  his  presence. 
He  is  there,  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  there,  as  the  liv¬ 
ing  Law,  come  down  to  right  itself ;  and  as  he  goes 
on  convicting  the  sinner,  piling  up  sentences  of  con¬ 
demnation  ;  one  power  of  the  soul  after  another 
awakes,  till  the  whole  soul  is  one  region  of  alarm ; 
and,  collecting  all  its  energies  into  an  outcry  for  mer¬ 
cy,  exclaims,  “  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?”  The 
prediction  of  Jesus  is  then  fulfilled  ;  the  Divine  Spir¬ 
it  has  conducted  the  cause  of  his  illustrious  Client  to 
a  triumphant  issue. 

And  in  doing  this,  observe,  no  external  force  is 
employed  ;  no  violence  whatever  is  done  to  the  free¬ 
dom  of  the  mind  ;  the  subject  of  the  operation  is 
never  more  conscious  of  mental  liberty  than  when 
the  change  is  in  process.  It  is  true  the  change  is  ne¬ 
cessitated  ;  but  that  moral  necessity  is  the  highest 
form  of  freedom.  It  is  true,  that  the  mind  is  brought 
under  the  authority  of  a  new  law ;  but  that  law  is  the 
royal  law  of  liberty,  the  law  to  which  the  nature  of 
man  was  preconfigured ;  and  all  that  the  Divine  Spirit 
effects,  is  to  bring  out  and  make  legible  the  sepret 
characters  of  that  law  originally  written  on  the  heart. 
He  comes  to  the  emancipation  of  the  will  from  a 
state  of  slavery ;  (for  sin  can  only  triumph  by  en¬ 
feebling  the  mind  and  extinguishing  the  liberty  of  the 
soul ;)  and  hence,  from  first  to  last,  he  carries  the 
mind  along  with  hjm,  employs  its  own  voluntary  agen- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


175 


cy,  calls  into  exercise  its  noblest  powers.  Even  the 
expulsion  of  sin  is  the  act  of  the  soul  itself :  for  no 
sooner  is  it  thus  revisited  by  its  Maker,  than  it  em¬ 
ploys  against  sin  those  arms  and  instruments  which 
had  hitherto  served  as  members  of  unrighteousness. 
In  fine,  the  only  condition  on  which  the  freedom  of 
a  finite  will  is  possible,  is  by  becoming  one  with  the 
will  of  God;  and  to  produce  this  happy  junction  is 
the  object  of  the  regenerating  Spirit ;  so  that  subjec¬ 
tion  to  him  is  restoration  to  oneself.  I Tis  presence 
in  the  soul  is  the  first  signal  and  moment  of  Ifeedom  ; 
and  the  more  he  puts  forth  his  influence  within  it,  the 
more  spontaneous  and  vigorous  are  its  own  move¬ 
ments  ;  till  it  utters  an  instinctive  cry  for  the  Spirit, 
and  for  liberty  as  for  an  identical  good. 

III.  The  same  truth  appears  in  another  original 
statement  of  Christ,  declarative  of  the  means  by 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  should  operate  on  the  mind — 
“  He  shall  take  of  mine,  and  show  it  unto  you.”  Sin 
is  the  disease  and  derangement  of  the  soul,  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  which  the  understanding  fails  to  dis¬ 
charge  its  appointed  function  on  the  heart:  the  eye 
of  a  corpse,  as  long  as  its  transparency  remains  un¬ 
impaired,  will  receive  the  picture  of  an  object  on  the 
retina  as  well  as  if  the  organ  were  living,  but  there 
is  no  corresponding  impression  produced  on  the 
brain  ;  so  religious  truths  may  be  easily  imported  in¬ 
to  the  understanding,  but  then  it  has  ceased  to  be  a 
medium  of  conveyance  to  the  heart ;  the  communi¬ 
cation  between  them  is  obstructed,  and  we  have  the 
mortification  of  finding,  that  to  obtain  the  assent  of 
the  one,  is  no  security  whatever  for  the  concurrence 
of  the  other.  To  produce  this  essential  coincidence 
between  the  understanding  and  the  heart  is  the  prov¬ 
ince  of  the  Spirit  alone. 

In  a  well-ordered  family,  while  every  member  has 
his  appropriate  duties,  yet,  if  occasion  require,  one 
will  go  far  in  his  kind  endeavors  to  supply  the  defi¬ 
ciencies  or  absence  of  another.  And  though  the 
several  powers  of  the  mind,  like  an  exemplary 


176 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

household,  have  their  respective  duties,  yet,  on  occa¬ 
sion,  will  the  emotions  and  excited  affections  of  the 
soul  find  an  understanding  of  their  own,  and  antici¬ 
pate  the  office  of  the  judgment.  Under  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit,  the  heart  is  frequently  induced  to  listen 
for  the  understanding,  as  well  as  the  understanding 
for  the  heart.  His  entrance  occasions  a  temporary 
confusion  in  the  household  economy  of  the  soul,  dim¬ 
ing  which  an  interchange  of  friendly  offices  uncon¬ 
sciously  takes  place,  and  which  facilitates  the  ne¬ 
cessary  preparation  for  the  reception  of  the  King  of 
Glory. 

And  how  alluring  the  objects,  how  captivating  the 
means  by  which  he  solicits  an  entrance  into  the  soul  ! 
It  is  true,  that  the  process  of  couching  the  mental, 
not  less  than  the  bodily  eye,  may  be  attended  with 
pain ;  the  birth-pangs  of  the  new  principle  may  be 
severe ;  but  the  objects  to  which  he  directs  the  first 
efforts  of  the  attention  are  all  of  the  most  captivating 
nature.  The  first  sight  which  greeted  the  eye  of 
Adam,  was  the  enchanting  scenery  of  paradise,  wet 
with  the  first  dew ;  and  the  sight  on  which  the  Di¬ 
vine  Spirit  would  have  the  eye  of  the  new  creature 
first  to  rest,  is  composed  of  the  selected  and  arrang¬ 
ed  glories  of  Christ.  He  takes  the  best  of  the  best, 
the  most  attractive  excellences  of  him  who  is  “  alto¬ 
gether  lovely,”  and  disposes  them  so  as  to  engage  and 
receive  the  first  glances  of  the  renewed  sinner :  infi¬ 
nite  love,  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  looking 
at  him  from  heaven  ;  erasing  the  sentence  of  his 
condemnation  ;  inserting  his  name  in  the  book  of 
life  ;  presenting  to  him  a  robe  of  righteousness  ;  pre¬ 
paring  for  him  a  heavenly  mansion  ;  pointing  him  to 
the  spectacle  of  the  cross  as  the  means  of  his  re¬ 
demption,  and  to  the  crown  of  life  as  the  end  of  his 
faith :  these  are  “  the  things  of  Christ,”  which  are 
placed  by  the  Spirit  before  the  eye  of  the  mind,  and 
along  with  which  he  passes  in,  and  diffuses  himself 
through  the  whole  soul.  He  would  silence  every 
other  sound,  but  that  which  emanates  from  these 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


177 


speaking  truths ;  and  cast  a  veil  over  all  other  ob¬ 
jects,  that  the  soul  might  be  secluded  and  left  to  the 
undisturbed  influence  of  this  new  creation.  He 
would  have  it  awake  to  the  sound  of  music,  to  the 
music  of  the  Saviour’s  voice  of  love.  He  would 
have  it  to  inhale  the  knowledge  of  Christ  like  fra¬ 
grance  ;  to  imbibe  holiness  insensibly,  as  from  a  sur¬ 
rounding  element;  and  heavenly  dispositions,  like 
melodies,  stealing  into  the  heart  from  a  distance. 
While  “  forming  Christ  within  the  hope  of  glory,”  he 
would  come  upon  the  soul  with  a  grateful  over-shad- 
owing,  and  operate  only  through  the  medium  of  the 
affections. 

IV.  The  absolute  necessity  of  regeneration  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  comes  to  us  under  the  great  seal  of  our 
Lord’s  most  solemn  asseveration  repeatedly  affixed  ; 
“  Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto  you ;  I,  who  not  merely 
desire  to  speak  the  truth,  but  who  am  the  tndh ;  I, 
who  am  the  amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness  ; 
who  having  come  from  heaven,  am  acquainted  with 
the  character  of  such  as  are  allowed  to  enter  it ;  I, 
who  hold  the  keys  of  that  kingdom,  I  say  unto  you, 
Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 

It  is  the  property  of  every  form  of  created  power 
incessantly  to  labor  to  subdue  all  things  to  itself. 
The  stagnation  of  the  universe  is  prevented  by  this 
unremitting  struggle.  The  revolution  of  the  plan¬ 
ets  is  maintained  by  the  perpetual  contest  of  two 
principles,  each  of  which  is  always  equal  to  cope 
with,  but  never  able  to  master  the  other.  All  the  ac¬ 
tivity  and  life  of  nature  are  to  be  traced  to  the  unwea¬ 
ried  contention  of  its  various  elements  ;  each  seek¬ 
ing  to  overpower  and  assimulate  the  rest  to  itself, 
but  itself  acted  on  in  return  by  so  equal  a  force,  that 
incessant  conflict  is  made  incessant  harmony.  In 
the  intellectual  world,  a  law  of  our  nature  is  always 
at  work,  strivin.o-.  hv  a  synthesis  nf  rmnpnri^nn  and 
arrangement,  to  reduce  all  knowledge,  physical, 
philosophical,  and  religious,  all  to  one  compact  sys- 


/ 


178 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


tem.  The  mind  (perhaps  unconsciously)  is  laboring 
after  this  by  a  necessity  of  nature,  in  all  its  search¬ 
ings  after  analogies,  and  attempts  at  generalization  ; 
it  acts  on  the  mental  instinct,  that  truth  is  but  one 
idea,  one  infinite  whole,  the  product  of  the  one  rea¬ 
son  ;  and  to  this  state  of  unity  it  is  constantly  aiming 
to  reduce  all  its  conceptions  and  knowledge,  as  the 
only  state  in  which  the  whole  of  its  knowledge  can 
be  mastered.  Now  the  same  representation  holds 
true  of  the  moral  world.  The  will  is  perpetually 
aggressive,  laboring  to  conquer  and  convert  all  tilings 
around  it  to  its  own  purposes,  and  to  change  them 
into  its  own  nature.  But  here  the  conflict,  as  far  as 
it  is  instigated  by  Satan  the  great  rebel,  and  actuated 
by  sin,  is  direct  hostility  against  God.  It  is  not  car¬ 
ried  on  in  subordination  to  established  law,  as  the 
elemental  conflicts  of  nature  are ;  nor  in  obedience 
to  the  immediate  mandates  of  heaven,  as  the  minis¬ 
tries  of  angels  are  ;  but  in  direct  hostility  against 
God.  It  arms  the  understanding  against  the  dictates 
of  revelation  ;  and  the  passions  against  the  purity 
and  self-denial  of  the  divine  requirements ;  and  the 
will  against  “  all  that  is  called  God,  and  that  is  wor¬ 
shiped  it  arms  every  member  as  an  instrument  of 
unrighteousness,  and  precipitates  the  whole  man  in¬ 
to  the  battle-field  occupied  by  the  hostile  forces  of 
good  and  evil. 

But  happiness  is  the  coincidence  of  the  finite  will 
with  the  infinite  ;  in  other  words,  it  is  holiness.  And 
who  would  wish  to  be  happy  at  the  price  of  that  ? 
who  ;  what  rational  or  enlightened  being  would  de¬ 
sire  to  be  happy  at  the  expense  of  the  divine  charac¬ 
ter  and  government  ?  at  the  sacrifice  of  seeing  the 
creature  erected  above  the  Creator  ?  But  though  all 
the  universe  should  desire  the  enormity,  it  could  not 
be  :  for  happiness,  we  repeat,  is  nothing  more,  and 
nothing  less,  than  the  coincidence  of  the  finite  will 
with  the  infinite.  That  infinite  will,  in  the  person 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  come  into  the  world,  expressly 
to  subdue  all  things  to  himself :  for  shall  he  alone. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


179 


he  the  Supreme  Mind,  be  inactive  ;  he,  whose  every 
moment  is  along  the  line  of  right,  whose  every  con¬ 
quest  is  the  recovery  of  his  own,  and  every  breath 
the  creation  and  diffusion  of  happiness?  No;  he 
seeks  to  remedy  the  errors  of  the  mind,  by  becom¬ 
ing  the  one  reason  of  every  individual  understand¬ 
ing  ;  to  correct  the  selfishness  of  every  separate 
heart,  by  becoming  the  center  and  law  of  all  man¬ 
kind — the  one  heart  for  the  whole  colossal  mass  of 
humanity.  The  primitive  church  presents  us  with 
an  instance  of  his  uncounteracted  agency;  “the 
whole  multitude  of  them  that  believed  were  of  one 
heart,  and  of  one  mind  ;”  on  them  his  agency  took 
full  effect ;  he  became  the  heart  of  the  whole  com¬ 
munity,  and  every  particular  pulse  found  its  health 
beating  in  unison  with  it.  Until  he  works,  each  in¬ 
dividual  human  spirit  is  striving  to  be  a  center  of 
influence  to  itself;  but  harmonious  subordination  to 
the  Supreme  Spirit  is  happiness,  in  heaven  ;  and 
hence  the  absolute  necessity  of  coming  under  his 
subjecting  and  transforming  power,  in  order  to  the 
enjoyment  of  heaven. 

V.  The  happy  result  of  regeneration  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  production  of  a  corresponding  principle 
of  spiritual  life  ;  “  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is 
spirit.”  That  which  he  creates  may  be  material ;  but 
that  which  he  begets  in  his  proper  character,  his  mor¬ 
al  capacity,  must  partake  of  his  nature  and  likeness. 
The  possession  of  an  immortal  spirit  indeed,  is  com¬ 
mon  to  all  men  ;  for  “  there  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and 
the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  hath  given  him  un¬ 
derstanding.”  But  it  is  in  the  power  of  sin  to  erect 
the  material  part  of  our  nature  into  a  state  of  domin¬ 
ion  over  the  spiritual ;  to  dethrone  the  soul,  and 
give  it  in  captivity  to  the  flesh  ;  and,  in  this  unnatu¬ 
ral  state,  the  mind  is  degraded  with  the  name  of  its 
material  tyrant  and  is  called,  a  fleshly  mind.  Now  it 
is  the  glory  of  the  Divine  Regenerator  that  he  turns 
this  flesh  into  spirit ;  he  becomes  a  soul  to  our  soul, 
lifting  it  out  of  its  materiality,  and  restores  to  it 


180 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


again  its  lost  prerogative  of  dominion.  He  makes  it 
spirit. 

And,  in  restoring  it  to  the  exercise  of  its  peculiar 
functions,  he  is  said  to  give  it  life.  As  long  as  it  is 
held  in  subjection  to  the  flesh,  it  is  represented  as 
being  dead  while  it  lives ;  but  by  breathing  upon  it, 
he  restores  it  again  to  the  life  of  God.  Henceforth, 
it  not  only  lives  itself,  but  throws  a  life  into  all  its 
spiritual  exercises,  and  is  dissatisfied  unless  God  in¬ 
fuses  a  life  into  all  its  religious  privileges.  In  the 
enjoyment  of  this  new-found  existence,  it  pants  af¬ 
ter  God,  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  di¬ 
vine  communications,  and  seeks  to  receive  its  nour¬ 
ishment  from  the  hand  of  God.  One  of  the  distinc¬ 
tive  characters  of  physical  life,  is  its  power  of  assim- 
ulating  materials  of  different  natures  to  its  own  sub¬ 
stance  ;  like  that,  the  regenerated  soul  is  endowed 
with  the  power  of  converting  the  various  events  of 
time  into  the  mysterious  means  of  its  nourishment, 
and  even  of  turning  obstacles  into  its  own  form  and 
character.  As  its  divine  Author  puts  forth  his  pow¬ 
er  to  produce  it,  so  it  proclaims  its  descent,  and  hon¬ 
ors  its  parentage,  by  putting  forth  a  corresponding 
power  in  its  endeavors  after  holiness.  At  times,  in¬ 
deed,  its  possessor  may  utter  a  complaint  of  impo¬ 
tence,  “  that  when  he  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  him  but  so  probably  he  would  complain, 
were  his  spiritual  strength  considerably  greater  than 
it  is.  The  complaint  is  often  to  be  regarded,  not  so 
much  as  an  evidence  of  weakness,  as  a  sign  of  that 
dissatisfaction  with  every  thing  short  of  perfection, 
which  is  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  spiritual 
life  ;  being  born  from  above,  it  pants  after  the  per¬ 
fection  of  its  native  region  it  essays  to  rise,  and  is  im¬ 
patient  of  every  thing  which  impedes  its  aspirations, 
and  detains  its  flight.  It  feels  the  attraction  of  that 
supreme  central  good  to  which  all  goodness  gravi¬ 
tates  ;  and,  like  the  earth,  which  is  always  laboring  in 
its  onward  course  to  gain  the  sun,  it  is  always  striv¬ 
ing  to  reach  its  center :  to  escape  beyond  all  the  in- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


181 


Alienees  of  sin,  and  to  attain  the  region  of  heavenly 
life.  And  it  demonstrates  its  celestial  descent,  by 
persevering  in  its  aim  till  it  triumphs.  The  divine 
Spirit,  who  begot  it,  will  not  more  certainly  triumph 
over  all  the  array  of  sin  which  the  world  contains, 
and  cast  it  out ;  than  the  new  principle  of  regenera¬ 
ted  life  will  continue  to  work,  till  it  has  expelled  sin 
from  the  soul,  and  is  conducted  victorious,  into  the 
presence  of  its  Divine  Parent. 

The  name  which  the  Divine  regenerator  prefers, 
and  by  which  he  chooses  most  frequently  to  make 
himself  known,  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  owing  to  his 
love  for  holiness,  and  his  ability  to  produce  it,  that 
he  has  undertaken  the  office  of  changing  the  human 
heart.  If  he  were  not  certain  that  he  should  renew 
the  soul,  and  assimulate  it  to  his  own  holy  nature,  he 
would  not  come  into  contact  with  an  object  so  pol¬ 
luted,  and  depraved,  and  unlike  himslf.  But  “  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit and,  as  the  off¬ 
spring  of  infinite  holiness,  it  so  completely  possesses 
the  believer  with  a  desire  for  sanctity,  that  he  rejoi¬ 
ces  iu  tribulation,  accepts  the  furnace,  and  exults  in 
the  flames,  if  by  passing  through  them,  he  may  lose 
his  impurity,  and  emerge  in  the  likeness  of  God. 

Like  its  spiritual  progenitor,  the  renewed  spirit 
must  have  an  unconfined  range.  It  is  made  free  of 
the  universe  and  eternity,  and  cannot  submit  its  dif¬ 
fusive  benevolence  to  the  restriction  of  limits.  With¬ 
out  deserting  the  concentric  circles  of  self,  and  family, 
and  party,  and  country,  and  contemporaries,  it  goes 
forth,  expatiating  and  rejoicing  in  a  sphere  which  en¬ 
compasses  all  these,  and  which  itself  knows  no  cir¬ 
cumference.  As  an  organized  part  of  universal  be¬ 
ing,  it  seeks  to  diffuse  and  multiply  itself  through  all 
the  mass,  by  the  circulation  of  unlimited  happiness. 
Beyond  the  confined  range  which  it  labors  to  fill 
with  its  own  personal  activity,  it  seeks  to  be  present, 
not  merely  in  aim  and  affectionate  desire,  but  by  en¬ 
gaging  the  gracious  agency  of  its  infinite  Author. 
Thus  it  makes  an  approximation  to  universal  love  : 

16 


182 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

imitates  the  infinity  of  the  divine  goodness ;  and  is 
distinguished  by  a  subordinate  omnipresence  of  be¬ 
nevolence.  By  drinking  of  the  water  which  Jesus 
gives — “this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit” — it  possesses 
within  itself  “a  well  of  water  springing  up  to  ever¬ 
lasting  life.”  Though  it  shall  be  cut  off  from  all  cre¬ 
ated  streams,  it  has  a  fountain  of  its  own,  fed  from  a 
higher  fountain;  a  perpetual  spring  in  immediate 
communication  with  the  well-head  of  life.  Its  alli¬ 
ance  with  the  Infinite  Spirit  raises  it  to  a  state  of  inde¬ 
pendence  of  the  creature,  confers  on  it  a  kind  of  spir¬ 
itual  self-sufficiency.  And,  finally,  as  nothing  but  God 
could  satisfy  God,  so  the  renewed  soul  demonstrates 
its  divine  descent  by  disdaining,  as  emptiness  and  in¬ 
sult,  less  than  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all. 

That,  indeed,  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  neces¬ 
sarily  limited  in  its  likeness  to  God  by  the  natural 
and  straitened  conditions  of  humanity.  It  has  noth¬ 
ing  in  common  with  some  of  the  attributes  of  its  di¬ 
vine  Parent ;  for,  abstractedly  considered,  they  are 
incommunicable.  It  has  little  more  than  a  name  in 
common  with  any  of  his  attributes ;  for  the  holiness, 
the  wisdom,  the  goodness  which  it  derives  from  him, 
are  infinitely  less  than  the  same  qualities  as  posses¬ 
sed  by  him.  But  though  it  does  not  possess  an  iden¬ 
tity  of  nature  with  these  attributes,  it  is  its  glory  that 
it  can  boast  a  likeness,  a  similitude  which  takes  in 
every  lineament  of  his  moral  image.  It  is  true,  that 
his  nature  obliges  him  to  produce  some  things  in  us, 
in  consequence  of  our  depravity,  of  which  there  is 
no  archetype  in  himself;  yet  even  these  peculiar  fea¬ 
tures  are  the  counterparts,  the  necessary  impressions 
of  certain  parts  of  his  own  character.  Repentance, 
for  instance,  is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  his  renewing 
operations  ;  but  repentance  in  us,  answers  to  holi¬ 
ness  in  him ;  it  is  only  the  process  by  which  infinite 
purity  is  seeking  to  reflect  and  behold  its  image  in 
our  breast. 

The  new  creature  is  an  entire  impression  ;  an  im¬ 
perfect  and  a  miniature  representation,  it  is  allowed  : 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


183 


blit  still  an  entire  impression  of  its  spiritual  Author. 
All  the  excellences  necessary  to  make  up  absolute 
perfection,  do  not  more  certainly  reside  in  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  Spirit  himself,  than  all  the  correspond¬ 
ing  qualities,  necessary  to  make  up  the  sum  of  sanc¬ 
tified  excellence,  exist  in  that  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit.  When  the  prophet  restored  the  dead  youth 
to  life,  he  did  not  more  carefully  extend  himself  over 
the  whole  surface  of  the  body,  adjusting  his  eyes, 
and  mouth  and  hands,  to  the  corresponding  parts 
and  organs  of  the  deceased,  that  the  whole  body 
might  revive,  than  the  divine  Spirit  joins  bosoms, 
applies  himself  in  regeneration  to  every  part  of  our 
moral  being,  to  resuscitate  and  restore  the  whole. 
He  leaves  no  dead  or  palsied  part ;  but  diffusing  life 
and  activity  through  the  entire  frame,  he  would  have 
us  to  develop  and  work  out  every  principle  and  func¬ 
tion  of  our  new  nature  in  the  service  of  God.  Or,  to 
use  a  scriptural  figure,  he  delivers  the  soul  into  a 
mould  from  which  it  cannot  fail  to  receive  the  un¬ 
manned  and  entire  impression  of  a  man  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

VI.  And  our  Lord  predicted,  as  the  crowning  ef¬ 
fect  of  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  “  He  shall 
glorify  me  a  prediction  which  is  realized  in  vari¬ 
ous  ways.  The  advent  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  cause  of 
Christ,  was  itself  an  event  which  conferred  on  that 
cause  transcendant  honor.  Had  myriads  of  angels 
been  dispatched  instead,  to  fly  through  the  midst  of 
heaven,  preaching  the  everlasting  gospel  to  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  the  earth,  even  that  would  have  given  us  lof¬ 
ty  ideas  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ ;  but  that  the  infi¬ 
nite  Spirit  himself  should  have  come  at  his  interces¬ 
sion,  and  in  his  service,  this  indeed  glorifies  Christ. 
That  he  should  come  expressly  to  convince  men,  not 
merely  that  they  are  sinners,  but  that  they  are  sin¬ 
ners,  especially  against  Christ ;  and  not  merely  so, 
but  that  the  sin  ol"  rejecting  him  is  the  greatest  sin 
they  can  commit ;  that  it  is  the  master  sin,  the  capi¬ 
tal  offense  of  the  longest  life  of  impiety  including 


]84  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

the  essence,  anti  surpassing  the  guilt'of  all  other  sins 
combined  together ;  how  unspeakably  is  Jesus  mag¬ 
nified  by  this  act  of  the  Spirit ! 

He  engages  to  renovate  the  soul  through  the  medi¬ 
um  of  truth  ;  now  what  honor  does  he  confer  upon 
Christ,  that  he  should  pass  by  all  other  kinds  of 
truth,  and  should  take  that,  and  employ  that  only 
which  relates  to  Christ.  Does  he  not  thus  teach  us, 
by  his  own  example,  to  count  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord  ?  Does  he  not  say  to  us,  in  actions  louder 
than  words,  “  This  is  the  sum  of  all  science  ;  this  is 
the  only  knowledge  that  can  incorporate  and  mingle 
with  your  being ;  this  is  life  eternal,  to  know  the 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent and 
all  other  knowledge  is  real  only  so  far  as  it  is  sym¬ 
bolical  of  this.  He  undertakes  to  change  the  heart ; 
to  produce  in  the  will,  where  all  the  strength  of 
man  and  all  the  powers  of  sin  are  concentrated  and 
entrenched,  an  entire  revolution ;  a  work  so  great, 
that  to  create  a  human  being  is  represented  as  easy 
in  comparison  ;  for  it  is  not  merely  to  evolve  some¬ 
thing  out  of  nothing,  but  to  produce  a  contrary  from 
a  contrary,  to  bring  light  out  of  darkness,  love  out  of 
enmity,  holiness  out  of  essential  impurity  ;  and  hence, 
to  mark  the  omnipotence,  the  infinite  outgoing  of 
power  which  the  work  demands,  the  day  in  which 
he  does  this  is  called  “the  day  of  his  power.”  Now 
what  honor  does  he  confer  upon  Christ,  that  with¬ 
out  employing  any  force,  without  doing  any  violence 
to  the  constitution  of  the  soul,  he  should  effect 
this  mighty  change,  which  angels  cannot  behold 
without  bursting  into  a  rapture  of  admiration,  by 
simply  taking  of  the  things  of  Christ,  and  showing 
them  to  the  soul.  He  asks  for  no  other  weapons 
than  these  weapons  of  love,  these  things  of  Christ. 
As  if  he  should  say,  “  Give  me  these ;  and  I  will  change 
the  sinner  into  a  saint.  Arm  me  with  these  ;  and  I 
will  pass  into  his  soul  as  the  antagonist  of  sin,  dis¬ 
turbing  and  tracking  it  in  all  its  windings,  and  ex- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


185 


elling  it  from  all  its  recesses;  I  will  change  his  pride 
into  humility ;  his  enmity  and  unbelief  into  faith 
and  love.  And  I  will  do  this  by  illapses  so  gentle, 
by  a  process  so  natural,  and  so  coincident  with  the 
operations  of  his  own  mind,  that,  were  not  the  effects 
essentially  divine,  he  would  deem  the  agency  that  ef¬ 
fected  it  essentially  human.”  He  engages  to  conduct 
the  soul  to  happiness ;  to  merit  at  his  hands  the  name  of 
the  Comforter.  How  does  he  magnify  Christ  then,  by 
leading  the  sinner  direct  into  the  presence  of  Christ, 
as  the  only  method  of  fulfilling  his  engagement ; 
confessing,  by  the  act,  that  apart  from  Christ  even 
he  could  not  give  the  soul  comfort. 

In  the  prosecution  of  his  work,  the  divine  Spirit 
employs  a  model  to  which  to  conform  the  renewed 
soul ;  for,  as  he  finds  the  character  of  man  depraved, 
deformed,  and  awfully  unlike  what  it  should  be,  he 
proposes  to  give  it  beauty,  and  excellence,  and  per¬ 
fection.  What  honor  then  doos  he  confer  upon 
Christ,  by  making  him  the  pattern  after  which  he 
works,  the  model  by  which  he  moulds  and  fashions 
all  believers.  He  takes  of  the  things  of  Christ,  and 
shows  them  to  the  soul,  expressly  that  it  may  catch 
their  temper  and  likeness.  He  holds  before  its  eye  the 
mirror  of  the  gospel,  that,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  it  may  be  changed  into  the  same  im¬ 
age.  Effacing  from  the  soul  the  image  of  the  earthly, 
he  imprints  in  its  stead  the  likeness  of  the  Lord  from 
heaven  ;  nor  does  he  count  the  work  complete,  till  the 
soul  is  completely  conformed  to  the  perfect  model. 

And  the  Holy  Spirit  glorifies  Christ  by  rendering 
him  the  object  of  supreme  affection  and  delight  to 
all  believers.  The  uniform  effect  of  his  teaching  is, 
that  they  “rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus.”  They  distinctly 
see  that  there  never  was  any  righteousness  in  the 
world  but  his  ;  that  there  is  no  excellence  in  the  uni¬ 
verse  except  his,  and  what  is  derived  from  him. 
They  feel  therefore  that,  while  there  is  no  sin  equal 
to  that  of  disregarding  him,  there  can  be  no  act 
which  harmonizes  with  so  many  of  the  original  and 
16* 


186 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


best  principles  of  our  nature,  or  which  is  so  much 
an  occasion  of  joy,  as  that  of  receiving  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord.  When  the  Spirit  was  poured  out  from  on 
high,  the  church  was  flooded  with  light ;  but  like  the 
angel  standing  in  the  sun,  the  central  object  of  that 
light  was  Christ ;  the  church  was  thrown  into  a 
transport  of  joy,  but  the  subject  of  that  joy  was 
Christ;  his  name  was  on  every  tongue, his  love  filled 
every  heart.  And  wherever  the  divine  Spirit  operates, 
the  same  supreme  delight  in  Christ  invariably  ensues. 
He  conies  to  herald  the  way  for  Christ ;  to  throw  open 
the  temple  gates  of  the  heart  for  the  reception  of 
Christ;  to  announce  the  titles,  and  display  the  excellen¬ 
ces  of  Christ ;  that  the  soul,  beholding  the  glory  of  its 
royal  guest,  may  receive  him  with  acts  of  worship,  and 
acclamations  of  delight.  And  having  admitted  Christ, 
the  believer  discovers  that  he  has  admitted  God ; 
the  all-comprehending  fullness  of  God.  Henceforth 
he  can  never  lift  his  eye  towards  him,  but  his  heart 
assumes  a  posture  of  complacent  adoration  and  joy  ; 
and,  when  he  has  been  imploring  and  putting  him¬ 
self  under  the  influence  of  the  blessed  Spirit,  the 
name  of  Christ  fills  his  soul  with  light  and  glory.  It 
is  a  name  which  has  an  attraction  for  every  thing 
great  and  good  in  the  universe.  The  eye  does  not 
more  rapidly  sweep  the  midnight  magnificence  of 
the  starry  heavens,  than  the  renewed  mind,  at  the 
mention  of  his  name,  makes  the  circuit  of  creation, 
gathering  up  all  that  is  glorious  in  its  course,  as  re¬ 
lated  to  him,  and  emblematic  of  his  excellence. 

But  this  prediction  looks  forward  to  a  more  glori¬ 
ous  fulfillment  than  any  which  it  has  yet  received  ;  a 
period  when  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  glorify  Christ  in 
these  various  respects,  not  merely  in  the  conversion 
of  a  sinner  here  and  there,  but  when  the  sphere  of 
his  operations  shall  embrace  the  world ;  when  he 
shall  become  the  soul  of  the  world,  the  great  animat¬ 
ing  spirit  of  mankind,  leading  them  as  with  one  heart 
and  one  hand  to  crown  the  Saviour,  Lord  of  all.  But 
the  prediction  is  of  greater  compass  still ;  it  teaches 
us  to  look  onward  to  the  period,  when  Jesus  “shall 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


187 


come  to  be  admired  in  his  saints,  and  glorified  in  all 
them  that  believe.”  He  determines  that  he  will  reap 
a  large  harvest  of  human  hearts,  of  sanctified  affec¬ 
tions  ;  and  he  has  sent  the  Spirit  into  the  world  to 
collect  this  revenue,  to  gather  up  this  glory  for  him  ; 
and  then  the  Spirit  will  have  completed  his  task, 
will  have  glorified  Christ ;  for  it  will  then  be  seen 
that  he  has  clothed  every  believer  in  the  righteous¬ 
ness  of  Christ ;  renewed  them  all  after  the  likeness  of 
Christ ;  that  with  no  other  instrument  to  work  with 
than  the  gospel  of  Christ,  he  has  operated  on  a  vast 
mass  of  depravity,  on  a  multitude  which  no  one  can 
number  of  sinful  souls,  and  has  renewed  and  made 
them  resplendent,  and  crowned  them  with  the  glory 
of  Christ. 

VII.  Such  is  a  somewhat  connected  view  of  the 
principal  original  truths,  with  which  the  Great 
Teacher  enriched  his  church,  concerning  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  will  point  attention  also 
to  two  or  three  isolated  declarations,  calculated  to 
show  the  importance  of  receiving  his  influence,  as 
well  as  to  give  a  practical  application  to  the  preced¬ 
ing  remarks. 

“  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  All  manner  of  sin  and 
blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men  ;  but  the 
blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  for¬ 
given  unto  men.  And  whosoever  speaketh  a  word 
against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him  ;  but 
whosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall 
not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in 
the  world  to  come.”  What  form  of  denunciation 
can  be  conceived  more  calculated  than  this  to  warn 
the  trifler  that  he  is  on  holy  ground,  and  to  bespeak 
for  the  whole  doctrine  of  divine  influence  the  rever¬ 
ence  of  a  prostrate  soul.  The  sin  denounced  is, 
probably,  the  rejection  of  the  last  and  greatest  evidence  of 
the  Messiahship  of  Christ ;  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit. 
Up  to  that  point  of  unbelief,  the  Jews  were  within 
the  reach  of  forgiveness.  Their  blasphemy  against 
Christ ;  their  rejection  of  all  the  evidence  arising 


188  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

from  his  character,  his  miracles,  the  testimony  of 
John,  and  the  distinct  fulfillment  in  him  of  numer¬ 
ous  prophecies  ;  even  the  act  of  nailing  him  to  the 
cross  ;  all  this  did  not  consummate  their  guilt,  and 
render  their  condition  hopeless.  It  was,  indeed, 
approaching  as  near  to  the  edge  of  the  precipice  as 
possible  without  actually  falling  over.  It  was  clos¬ 
ing  their  eyes  against  evidence  which  ought  to  have 
convinced  them  that  Christ  was  the  Messiah ;  but 
still  there  was  further  evidence  to  be  submitted  to 
them,  and  evidence  of  a  superior  kind.  The  miracu¬ 
lous  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  attesting  as  it 
would  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  his  exalta¬ 
tion  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  bringing  as  it 
would  the  right  arm  of  Omnipotence  visibly  to  cer¬ 
tify  his  claims,  was  reserved  for  that  closing  proof. 
Till  that  should  be  found  unavailing,  their  impeni¬ 
tence  could  not  be  pronounced  final.  But  should 
they  reject  that,  they  would  be  resisting  the  last  proof 
that  would  be  given,  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  Saviour  of  sinners  ;  with  their  own  hands 
they  would  have  subscribed  the  sentence  which 
doomed  them  to  perdition  ;  they  would  have  added 
the  final  shade  of  horror  to  their  condition,  anticipat¬ 
ing  “  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever.” 

But  let  the  specific  sin  denounced  be  what  it  may : 
and  possibly  it  is  left  indeterminate,  that  it  may  shed 
a  cautionary  influence  over  a  larger  space  ;  the  de¬ 
nunciation  surrounds  the  doctrine  of  divine  influence 
with  a  guard,  as  terrific  as  the  barriers  placed  about 
the  mount  that  burned.  It  has  no  parallel  in  the 
word  of  God ;  and  is  only  inferior,  in  its  power  to 
inspire  dread,  to  the  awful  sentence  of  the  last  day. 
Where  all  besides  is  pleasant  as  the  garden  of  the 
Lord,  it  stands  out  a  terrible  anomaly — a  volcano 
fast  by  the  tree  of  life.  He  who  incurs  its  terrors, 
is  henceforth  an  outcast  from  grace  ;  a  proclaimed 
anathema  ;  devoted  to  damnation  ;  the  heir  of  un¬ 
known  treasures  of  wrath.  Reader,  as  you  would 
dread  to  take  even  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


189 


this  tremendous  sin ;  as  you  would  tremble  to  think 
of  entering  into  its  mountainous  shadow  ;  trifle  with 
nothing  which  relates  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  That  agency  is  truly  “  for  your  life.”  Sin  has 
brought  you  into  the  crisis  of  the  second  death  ;  and 
his  is  the  only  hand  that  can  apply  the  only  remedy. 
In  his  offers  and  influence,  God  may  be  regarded  as 
collecting  up  all  that  is  gracious  and  solemn  in  the 
vast  economy  of  redemption,  and  coming  to  bring 
the  whole,  as  far  as  you  are  concerned,  to  an  issue  ; 
as  making  his  nearest  and  final  approach  to  your 
spirit:  as  you  value  eternal  life,  then,  let  there  be  no 
symptom  of  disinclination  to  receive  him. 

But  this  is  not  enough :  when  he  spoke  of  the  Ho¬ 
ly  Spirit,  the  Saviour  would  have  his  disciples  to  lift 
up  their  thoughts,  to  enlarge  their  expectations,  and 
form  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  excellence  and  grace  ; 
declaring,  that  the  advent  of  the  Spirit  would  more 
than  compensate  for  the  loss  of  his  own  personal 
presence.  What  must  be  the  value  of  that  gift 
which  would  supply  the  place  of  the  orb  of  day,  and 
make  us  cease  to  deplore  his  extinction  P  Of  infi¬ 
nitely  surpassing  value  must  be  the  gift  which  could 
indemnify  the  ehurch  for  the  personal  departure  of  its 
Sovereign  Lord.  Yet  such  a  gift  is  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
the  soul  of  the  church  ;  and  the  life  of  the  world  ; 
for  so  much  of  the  Spirit  as  there  is  in  the  world, 
precisely  so  much,  and  no  more,  is  there  of  life. 

In  the- history  of  the  natural  creation,  it  is  recorded 
that  until  he  brooded  upon  the  face  of  the  waters, 
the  earth  was  without  form  and  void;  but  he  infused 
into  it  a  vital  element ;  and  what  a  world  of  beauty 
arose  !  an  enlargement  of  heaven  ;  the  treasury  and 
temple  of  the  material  universe.  And,  until  he  came 
into  the  new  creation,  the  work  of  salvation  was  at  a 
stand.  The  sacrifice  for  sin  had  been  offered  ;  the 
atonement  accepted ;  all  the  elements  of  salvation 
were  in  existence,  but  without  life  ;  all  the  blessings 
of  grace  were  ready,  but  the  Spirit  was  wanting  to 
convey  them  into  the  soul.  And  when  he  came,  and 


190 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


commenced  his  office,  what  glories  transpired  !  The 
Saviour  had  not  merely  foreseen  these  ;  his  holy 
mind  had  often  luxuriated  in  the  scene,  had  dwelt 
with  unimaginable  delight  on  the  prospect  of  the 
Spirit  returned  to  the  world,  and  employed  in  its 
renovation.  The  valley  of  dry  bones  was  around 
him  ;  the  place  he  inhabited  was  a  moral  sepulcher  ; 
but  he  saw  the  Spirit  about  to  become  the  soul  of 
these  slain,  to  breathe  into  them  a  higher  order  of 
life  than  they  had  yet  lived,  enabling  them  to  divine 
exploits,  to  defy  and  triumph  over  death.  Before 
him  lay  stretched  out,  wherever  he  turned,  an  ocean 
of  woe,  brackish  with  human  tears  ;  the  Dead  Sea, 
embittering,  poisoning,  and  turning  to  ashes  the  fair¬ 
est  fruits  of  earth  ;  and  exhaling  vapors  fatal  to  all 
human  joys.  But  he  saw  the  divine  Spirit ;  the 
waters  of  prophetic  vision ;  issuing  forth  from  the 
sanctuary  of  heaven,  a  new  element  of  life  ;  “going 
down  into  the  desert,  and  into  the  sea,  to  heal  the 
waters.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  waters  were 
healed,  and  every  thing  lived  whither  the  river 
came.” 

Humanity,  to  his  view,  appeared  as  one  body,  one 
mighty  growth  and  stature  of  sin  demonically  pos¬ 
sessed  by  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  and 
putting  forth  all  its  gigantic  powers  in  exploits  of 
evil.  But  he  saw  the  power  of  his  exorcism  at  hand 
and  rejoiced  ;  “Now,”  said  he,  “  is  the  judgment  of 
this  world ;  now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be 
cast  out.”  He  beheld  human  nature  released  from 
the  foe  whose  name  is  legion ;  renewed  in  all  its 
powers;  raised  to  a  holy  rivalship  with  angels  ;  and 
prepared  to  be  the  ornament  of  a  new  creation  ;  and 
all  this  resulting  from  the  advent  and  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  profound  complacency  with 
which  he  dwelt  on  the  vision,  evidently  showed  that 
he  deemed  nothing  too  great  to  be  expected  from  the 
coming  of  the  divine  Spirit ;  and  that  he  desired  to 
communicate  to  his  disciples  his  own  enthusiasm,  to 
fill  them  with  anticipations  as  enlarged  and  glowing 
as  his  own. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


191 


lie  intimates  that,  of  all  the  gifts  which  we  can  so¬ 
licit,  or  he  impart,  a  greater  cannot  be  named  than 
the  donation  of  his  Spirit.  “If thou  khewest  the 
gill  of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  unto  thee,  Give 
me  to  drink  ;  thou  wouldest  have  asked  of  him, 
and  he  would  have  given  thee  living  water  he 
would  have  bestowed  on  thee  the  gift  of  his  Spirit, 
extinguishing  all  thy  wants  at  once,  and  leaving  thee, 
through  eternity,  nothing  to  crave.  And  who  can 
compute,  who  can  exaggerate  the  value  of  this  gift? 
Had  we  originally  classed  with  the  beasts  that  per¬ 
ish,  as  mere  animated  clay  ;  and  had  he  then  raised 
us  iu  the  scale  of  being  by  adding  our  immaterial 
and  immortal  soul ;  we  could  not  have  looked  back 
on  our  brutal  pre-existence,  or  have  felt  the  con¬ 
sciousness  of  our  new-found  powers  of  mind,  with¬ 
out  standing  amazed  at  the  greatness  of  the  gift  he 
had  conferred.  But  here  he  speaks  of  a  superaddi¬ 
tion.  He  has  given  to  us  one  spirit ;  but  he  propo¬ 
ses  to  give  us  another,  to  make  us  all  the  richer  by 
an  additional  Spirit.  He  has  given  a  soul  to  our 
body ;  but  he  would  not  have  us  to  suppose  that  his 
gifts  are  exhausted,  for  he  offers  to  give  us  a  soul  to 
our  soul.  The  spirit  which  he  has  already  implanted 
is  human,  but  that  which  he  has  in  reserve  is  divine. 
And,  to  excite  and  inflame  our  desires,  he  represents 
the  divine  spirit  as  his  crowning  gift ;  as  rendering 
any  further  additions  unnecessary,  by  absorbing  all 
our  wants,  and  comprising  the  essence  of  all  good. 

Were  the  natural  influences  of  the  Spirit  to  be  de¬ 
nied  to  the  material  world,  who  can  paint  the  deso¬ 
lation  which  would  instantly  ensue  !  its  pleasant  ver¬ 
dure  dried  up  and  destroyed  ;  all  its  harmonies  si¬ 
lenced  ;  its  surface  strewed  with  the  wrecks  of  what 
was  life  ;  a  sepulchral  world,  enveloped  with  a  pall 
of  darkness  ;  a  wandering  star,  in  which  all  things 
were  hastening  to  chaos  and  desolation.  As  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  his  agency  is  the  life  of  the  spiritual 
world.  Accordingly,  the  chief  penalty  of  the  apos- 
tacy,  the  most  deadly  element  of  the  curse,  was  the 


192 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


suspension  and  withdrawment  of  Ids  vital  presence ; 
by  which  the  guilty  and  deserted  soul  was  left  to  en¬ 
ter  at  once  on  eternal  death — to  begin  hell  on  this  side 
the  grave.  On  the  other  hand,  it  follows,  that  the 
restoration  of  the  spirit  is  the  capital  blessing  of  the 
covenant  of  grace.  As  if  all  the  other  blessings 
were  represented  by  this,  and  included  in  it,  the  Sav¬ 
iour  magnifies  and  names  the  Spirit  alone.  While, 
in  one  of  the  evangelists,  we  hear  him  offer  all  good 
things  to  them  that  ask  ;  from  another  we  learn  that, 
by  this  all-comprehending  offer,  he  expressly  intends 
his  Holy  Spirit :  thus  leaving  us  to  infer,  first,  that 
universal  good,  and  the  Divine  Spirit  define  each 
other ;  or,  that  they  are  one  and  the  same  thing : 
and,  secondly,  impressing  us  with  the  fact,  that  the 
Spirit  is  the  only  unchangeable  and  necessary  good. 
Philosophy  teaches  us  that  no  material  object  on 
earth  has  a  color  of  its  own;  that  whatever  the  hue 
which  apparently  belongs  to  any  object,  it  may  be 
changed ;  and  the  object  be  made  to  take  the  hue  of 
all  the  prismatic  colors  in  succession.  This  is  true, 
analogically,  of  all  the  things  and  events  of  this  life  ; 
they  are  not  intrinsically  good  or  evil ;  do  not  pos¬ 
sess  a  character  and  complexion  of  their  own.  The 
same  dispensation  may  prove  a  curse  to  one,  and  a 
blessing  to  another ;  may  be  an  evil  to-day,  and  a 
good  to-morrow ;  may  come  as  a  favor,  but  be  per¬ 
verted  and  turned  into  a  poison  by  our  depravity  ;  or 
may  come  as  a  trial,  and  be  convei-ted  into  food 
and  life  by  the  transforming  touch  and  smile  of 
God.  But  the  gracious  influence  of  the  Spirit  is  sus¬ 
ceptible  of  no  such  fluctuation.  Impassive  itself,  it 
is  yet  capable  of  changing  every  thing  else  ;  while 
able  to  impress  its  own  character  on  the  universe  of 
being,  it  remains  itself  unchanged  and  unchange¬ 
able  ;  the  only  absolute,  eternal,  and  necessary  good. 

What  more  can  be  necessary  to  turn  our  whole 
soul  into  desire  ?  to  turn  all  our  most  ardent  thoughts 
and  longings  into  one  channel,  pouring  forth  a  copi¬ 
ous  stream  of  supplication  for  the  one  great  gift  of 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


193 


the  Spirit  ?  Is  it  possible  that  we  can  ask  for  any  in¬ 
ferior  good,  till  we  have  obtained  this  ?  Had  we  an 
adequate  impression  of  its  magnitude  we  should  for¬ 
get  that  any  other  want  existed  :  our  entreaties  would 
rise  in  energy  and  earnestness  as  we  moved  forward 
to  the  attainment  of  the  blessing :  our  cry  would  as¬ 
cend  and  peal  with  ceaseless  importunity  at  the  gate 
of  heaven :  would  go  in  unto  the  Almighty,  even  in¬ 
to  his  holy  place  ;  we  should  ask,  and  seek,  and  knock, 
till  he  had  bestowed  it  with  a  liberality  which  left 
nothing  for  our  fears  to  apprehend,  or  our  expecta¬ 
tions  to  desire. 

But  is  there  ground  to  believe  that  our  earnest  ap¬ 
plication  for  this  ineffable  good  would  be  crowned 
with  success  P  For,  in  proportion  as  the  value  and 
necessity  of  an  object  rise  in  our  view,  our  demand 
for  encouragement  to  pursue  it  rises  also.  Two 
things  are  observable,  in  reply.  The  first  is,  that  the 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  only  indispensable 
good,  is  the  only  blessing  which  is  promised  with  un¬ 
conditional,  absolute  certainty.  And  the  second  is, 
that  it  is  the  absolute  and  essential  goodness  of  this 
blessing  which  enables  the  Almighty  to  promise  it 
unconditionally.  If,  like  all  subordinate  blessings,  its 
character  were  mutable,  and  its  value  dependent  on 
circumstances,  like  them  it  could  only  be  made  the 
subject  of  a  conditional  promise  ;  the  mere  mutabili¬ 
ty  of  its  nature,  and  the  consequent  possibility  of  its 
becoming  an  evil,  would  have  made  it  incapable  of  an 
absolute  promise.  But  the  intrinsic  and  immutable 
goodness  of  the  gift  enables  the  Divine  Promiser  to 
say  of  it,  what  he  can  say  of  no  inferior  blessing, 
“  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find  ; 
knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.” 

The  student  of  mechanical  philosophy  is  aware 
that  dynamics,  or  the  science  of  force  and  motion, 
enters  into  nearly  every  physical  inquiry ;  that  it  is 
placed  at  the  head  of  all  the  sciences ;  and  that,  hap¬ 
pily  for  human  knowledge,  it  is  one  in  which  certain¬ 
ty  is  attainable  equal  to  that  of  mathematical  demon- 


194  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

stration.  Indeed — what  is  true  of  no  other  branch 
of  physical  science — our  knowledge  of  dynamics, 
of  motion  and  its  communication,  is  only  limited  by 
that  of  pure  mathematics.  Now  let  our  present  sub¬ 
ject  be  denominated  spiritual  dynamics ,  and  the  ana¬ 
logy  of  these  remarks  will  be  obvious.  The  Divine 
Spirit  is  the  author  of  all  motion  in  the  moral  world  ; 
the  science  of  spiritual  force  and  motion,  originating 
in  him,  is  at  the  head  of  all  the  doctrines  of  evangel¬ 
ical  religion;  it  enters  into  all  our  religious  calcula¬ 
tions;  and  happily  for  our  hopes  and  endeavors,  it  is 
one  in  which  every  step  may  be  taken  with  absolute 
certainty.  Indeed — what  is  true  of  no  other  promis¬ 
ed  good — the  measure  in  which  we  receive  this  influ¬ 
ence  is  determined  only  by  the  measure  of  our  de¬ 
sires  after  it,  or  by  the  limit  of  our  capacity  to  enjoy 
it.  “Every  one,”  saith  Christ,  “ that  asketh  receiv- 
cth  ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth.”  He  would  have 
us  observe  that  he  is  not  propounding  a  theory,  but 
stating  a  fact :  that  he  is  expounding  a  law  of  the  di¬ 
vine  government,  a  law  which  has  established  a  cer¬ 
tain  connexion  between  asking  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  receiving  it ;  and  that  could  we  appeal  to  all  who 
have  made  the  experiment,  we  should  find  that  this 
order  was  never  violated  ;  that  could  we  interrogate 
each  of  that  throng  without  number  who  have  sought 
the  gift,  they  would  testify  with  one  consent,  that  they 
all  received  to  the  utmost  amount  of  their  desires, 
and  abundantly  more. 

Prior,  indeed,  to  the  act  of  regeneration,  and  as  to 
the  time  and  manner  of  that  event,  the  wind  itself  is 
not  more  uncontrolable  and  free  than  is  the  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  illustrates  his  sovereignty  by 
acting  where  lie  listeth  :  asserts  and  magnifies  the 
royalty  of  his  grace  by  selecting  the  most  unlikely 
objects,  and  thus  pouring  contempt  on  human  calcu¬ 
lations.  But,  in  all  his  subsequent  communications, 
he  voluntarily  binds  himself  to  act  by  a  rule  which 
man  can  understand  and  employ,  voluntarily  subjects 
his  influence  to  the  call  of  prayer,  and  in  a  sense  re- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


195 


signs  his  scepter  into  the  hand  of  faith.  Amazing 
condescension !  as  if  only  concerned  to  bring  us  to 
the  footstool  of  mercy,  and  as  if  fearful  lest  the  recol¬ 
lection  of  his  sovereignty  would  deter  us  from  ap¬ 
proaching,  he  actually  merges  that  sovereignty  ;  yes, 
at  the  tremendous  risk  of  seeing  us  erase  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  his  absolute  liberty  from  our  creed,  of  hear¬ 
ing  us  deny  the  sovereignty  of  his  operations,  he  in 
effect,  throws  up  the  high  prerogative,  brings  himself 
under  obligation,  irrevocably  binds  himself  to  an¬ 
swer  prayer. 

To  encourage  our  application  for  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Saviour  appeals  from  the  instinct  of  parental  ten¬ 
derness,  to  the  infinite  benevolence  of  our  heavenly 
Father.  “  What  man  is  there  among  you,  who  if  his 
son  asked  bread  of  him  would  give  him  a  stone  ;  or 
if  he  asked  a  fish,  would  give  him  a  serpent  ?”  Who 
would  mock  the  wants  of  his  famishing  child?  The 
testimony  of  universal  experience  is  against  the  prob¬ 
ability  of  such  an  act:  the  thing  indeed  is  possible, 
but  so  rare,  that  it  has  never  been  deemed  necessary 
to  provide  a  law  for  its  punishment.  So  deeply  does 
parental  affection  enter  into  the  heart,  that  it  com¬ 
monly  survives  every  other  benevolent  feeling  ;  it  is 
the  last  affection  which  leaves  the  nature  of  a  bad 
man.  “  But  if  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,”  said  Christ ;  “  how  much 
more  shall  yonr  heavenly  Father  give  his  Holy  Spirit 
to  them  that  ask  him  ?”  Could  all  the  parental  ten¬ 
derness  which  the  world  has  contained,  from  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  time  till  now,  be  all  collected  and  infused 
iuto  one  human  heart,  compared  with  the  unbound¬ 
ed  benevolence  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  it  would  be 
but  as  a  drop  compared  with  the  ocean.  And,  there¬ 
fore,  it  cannot  be  that  the  needy  and  suppliant  soul 
should  plead  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  his 
infinite  goodness  refuse  to  give.  Degrade  him  to  a 
level  with  sinful  humanity,  suppose  him  to  be  only 
an  earthly  parent,  still  the  refusal  would  be  all  but 
impossible.  Now  what  a  human  father  will  scarcely 


196  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

ever  fail  to  do,  though  he  is  evil ;  God  will  never  fail 
to  do,  because  he  is  ineffably  good. 

But  that  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  complete  our 
encouragement  and  crown  our  hopes,  our  Lord  rep¬ 
resents  the  treasures  of  divine  influence  as  placed 
entirely  at  his  own  disposal.  And  where  would 
Poverty  and  Want  have  relief  deposited,  if  not  in 
the  hands  of  unconfined  Bounty.  Like  a  channel, 
prepared  on  purpose  to  receive  and  convey  the  over¬ 
flowings  of  a  fountain,  he  receives  only  to  communi¬ 
cate.  As  well  might  the  sun  be  charged  with  nig¬ 
gardliness  in  the  dispensation  of  light ;  though  from 
the  moment  of  its  creation,  it  has  been  constantly 
pouring  forth,  in  all  directions  an  immensity  of  light, 
sufficient  to  flood  with  radiance  ten  thousand  worlds 
like  ours  ;  as  to  question  the  readiness  of  Christ  to 
impart  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  the 
amazing  profusion  with  which  he  dispensed  it,  on  the 
day  of  pentecost,  testify  his  grace.  ■  Religious  ordi¬ 
nances,  means  of  grace,  a  standing  ministry ;  what 
are  these  but  channels  through  which  he  seeks  to 
pour  a  constant  supply  of  the  river  of  life  for  the  ir¬ 
rigation  of  his  church  ?  what  are  they  but  pillars 
which  he  has  reared  as  memorials  of  his  ascension, 
to  remind  us  that  now  we  have  only  to  ask  in  order 
to  receive  ;  that  he  can  now  dispense  the  Spirit  per¬ 
petually  and  without  measure  ;  so  that  every  day 
might  be  a  pentecostal  day,  a  repetition  of  his  coro¬ 
nation  day. 

Having  become  the  repository  of  divine  influence, 
his  only  solicitude  seems  to  arise  from  his  not  finding 
recipients  to  share  the  blessing.  As  the  heedless 
and  the  worldly  pass  him  by,  he  calls  to  them  in  lan¬ 
guage  which  shows  that  they  could  not  find  more  re¬ 
lief  in  receiving  than  he  would  experience  delight  in 
giving ;  that  his  benevolent  heart  is  actually  burthen- 
ed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  gifts  helms  to  dispense, 
and  yearns  for  the  godlike  gratification  of  giving  them 
away.  “  O  if  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who 
it  is  that  speaks  to  thee,  thou  wouldest  ask  him,  and 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


197 


he  would  give  thee  living  water.  But  ye  will  not 
come  unto  me,  that  ye  might  have  life.  Ask  and  ye 
shall  receive.”  You  cannot  open  your  eye  on  the 
light  of  day,  but  a  thousand  rays  of  the  sun  instantly 
enter  and  illuminate  your  organ  of  sight;  you  can¬ 
not  inspire,  in  the  ordinary  act  of  breathing  without 
drawing  in  copiously  the  vital  air  ;  repair  at  once  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  and  you  shall  not  raise  a  craving 
look  for  the  blessed  Spirit  in  vain,  your  eye  shall  at¬ 
tract  him  ;  inspire,  draw  in,  and  you  shall  inhale  at 
every  breath  of  earnest  desire,  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

The  Christian  church  is  a  region,  and  the  only  re¬ 
gion  on  earth,  replenished  with  the  vital  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit :  aud  by  making  baptism  the  initiatory 
ordinance,  the  Saviour  has  significantly  taught,  that, 
while  all  within  inhale  an  element  of  life,  all  with¬ 
out  are  breathing  an  element  of  destruction.  By  ap¬ 
pointing  the  right  to  be  administered  “  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,”  he  has  sealed  us  to  the  day  of  redemption  ; 
he  has  burnt  in,  and  made  indelible,  the  awful  sig¬ 
natures  of  Christian  discipleship ;  reminding  us, 
that,  as  those  who  have  “been  born  again  of  water 
and  of  the  Spirit,”  he  has  given  into  our  keeping  a 
new  life,  a  life  supernatural  and  .divine  ;  and  charg¬ 
ing  it  on  us,  as  we  hope  to  see  the  glorious  day  which 
is  longed-for  by  all  creation,  that  we  preserve  that 
life  inviolate  and  ungrieved. 

In  allusion  to  the  residence  of  the  Divine  Pres¬ 
ence  in  the  temple,  he  declares  of  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
that  “  he  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.” 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  all  the  believers,  of  all 
ages,  are  represented  as  forming  one  vast  and  com¬ 
pacted  temple,  of  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  living 
soul,  cementing,  animating,  and  pervading  the  whole. 
Now  if  important  duties  devolve  on  you,  though  you 
are  only  a  faction,  an  atom  of  the  stupendous  fabric 
inhabited  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  how  momentous  do 
your  duties  appear,  when  you  reflect  that  you  your- 

17* 


198  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

self  constitute  an  entire  temple.  The  Jews  had  an 
appointed  guard  to  watch  their  temple,  night  and 
day;  and,  though  the  guard  was  numerous,  each 
must  doubtless  have  felt  that  he  was  entrusted  with  a 
solemn  charge.  But  what  would  one  of  them 
have  felt,  had  the  whole  trust  been  devolved  on  him 
alone  ;  and  that  too  at  a  time  of  peculiar  danger 
from  a  watchful  foe :  how  tremblingly  alive  would 
he  have  been  to  every  thing  relating  to  his  sacred 
charge  !  To  you  my  fellow-christian,  as  to  a  living 
sanctuary,  the  Spirit  has  been  given,  “  that  he  may 
abide  with  you  for  ever.”  Reflect  on  his  divine 
character  and  gracious  design  and  then  conceive,  if 
you  can,  of  a  more  sacred  and  weighty  trust  than 
that  of  keeping  his  temple  inviolate. 

Had  you  originally  belonged  to  one  of  the  lowest 
species  of  animal  life  ;  and  had  he  raised  you  in  the 
scale  of  being,  multiplying,  and  enlarging  your  facul¬ 
ties  from  step  to  step  till  reason  dawned,  what  a 
sense  of  responsibility,  we  may  suppose,  would 
have  flashed  on  your  mind  as  you  first  awoke  to  the 
consciousness  of  your  amazing  transformation  !  To 
find  yourself  suddenly  endowed  and  entrusted  with 
an  immortal  soul,  rich  in  affections,  strong  in  intel¬ 
lectual  powers,  boundless  in  its  capabilities  and  de¬ 
sires  ;  the  perception  of  your  new  accountability 
might  well  impress  you  .with  an  awful  concern.  But 
a  greater  responsibility  is  here.  The  Spirit  of 
spirits,  the  Fountain  Spirit  himself  is  given  to  you, 
as  a  principle  of  new  and  heavenly  life,  as  a  divine 
in-dweller,  and  you  have  to  keep  for  him  the  temple 
of  your  soul.  O  then,  see  to  it,  that  your  conduct 
accords  with  so  sacred  a  trust.  He  comes  to  you  as 
the  Spirit  of  truth ;  study  the  mind  of  the  Spirit ; 
consult  his  dictates  as  your  living  oracle.  By  yield¬ 
ing  to  the  dictates  of  the  flesh,  your  spirit  has  lost  its 
proper  character,  its  discriminating  and  determining 
moral  power  ;  but  he  proposes  to  rescue  and  rein¬ 
force  your  spiritual  nature;  he  comes  to  be  your 
spirit,  to  turn  your  very  flesh  into  spirit,  renewing 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


199 


your  fleshly  mind:  do  not  let  it  appear  by  your  con¬ 
duct,  as  if,  having  carnalized  your  own  spirit,  you 
would,  if  possible,  carnalize  the  divine  Spirit  also, 
placing  all  spirit  in  subjugation  to  the  flesh.  He  is 
the  Comforter  ;  tbe  very  soul  of  happiness  ;  do  not 
grieve  him  whose  object  it  is  to  solace  and  bless 
you.  Do  not  resist  him  in  the  execution  of  his  of¬ 
fice,  while  engaged  in  cleansing  and  sanctifying  his 
temple.  Be  not  satisfied  with  merely  not  grieving 
the  Spirit  of  God  ;  but  aspire  to  please  him,  to  mag¬ 
nify  his  office,  to  enjoy  an  affluence  of  his  grace,  to 
live  in  the  Spirit  as  in  the  hallowed  atmosphere  of  a 
temple,  in  an  all-surrounding  element  of  holiness. 


SECTION  IV. — OF  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  TRINITY,  ANI) 
OF  A  SPIRITUAL  CHURCH. 

Among  the  subjects  comprehended  in  our  Lord’s 
original  teaching  may  be  named  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.  There  is  no  ground  to  conclude,  that,  prior 
to  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel,  this  doctrine  had 
any  claim  on  the  faith  of  mankind.  The  early  Chris¬ 
tians,  indeed,  in  their  eagerness  to  obtain  for  Chris¬ 
tianity  the  patronage  of  philosophy,  professed  to  find 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  in  the  writings  of  Plato  ; 
but  had  they  maintained  instead  a  duality,  or  a  cjuar- 
ternity,  the  same  writings  would  have  equally  be¬ 
friended  them.  The  humble  pretensions  of  the 
Jewish  system  were  satisfied  with  proclaiming  the 
existence  and  unity,  or  oneness  of  God,  in  opposition 
to  “the  lords  many,  and  gods  many,”  of  the  hea¬ 
thens  ;  the  allusions  which  the  system  contained  to 
the  triplicity  of  the  divine  nature,  awaited,  like  so 
many  dormant  seeds  of  truth,  the  rising  of  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness,  to  quicken  and  draw  them  forth 
from  their  obscurity. 


200  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

But  though  the  solemn  mystery  is  sufficiently  de¬ 
veloped  in  the  gospel  to  demand  our  faith ;  though 
the  Great  Teacher  held  in  liis  hand  the  entire  map 
of  truth,  he  disclosed  only  so  much  of  the  part  in 
question  as  related  to  our  path  to  heaven.  In  advert¬ 
ing  to  the  abysmal  subject  of  the  Divine  Essence,  he 
maintained  a  wise  reserve  :  and  he  did  this,  both 
that  he  might  not  entangle  us  in  a  labyrinth,  when 
we  ought  to  be  advancing  in  the  open  path  of  life  ; 
and  because  of  our  natural  incapacity  to  comprehend 
him  on  a  theme  on  which  there  are  no  analogies  to 
assist  us.  “  How  shall  ye  believe,  or  understand 
me,”  said  he,  “  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things  ?”  In¬ 
stead  therefore,  of  theorizing  on  the  subject,  he 
taught  it  dogmatically  and  practically. 

The  doctrine  in  the  general  opinion  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church,  is  necessarily  involved  in  various  parts 
of  our  Lord’s  teaching.  I  shall  content  myself,  how¬ 
ever,  with  adverting  to  his  great  command,  “  Go, 
then,  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  unto  the  NAME  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.”  Whether  he  intended 
these  words  to  be  a  formulary  of  the  rite  or  not,  is  im¬ 
material  to  determine.  Their  obvious  import  is  to 
describe  baptism  to  be  a  religious  dedication  to  God, 
who  is  known  by  the  manifestation  of  his  NAME, 
the  display  of  his  glorious  perfections.  Now  as  this 
name  is  attributed  equally  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son, 
and  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  seems  inevitably  to  follow, 
that  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  are,  with  the  Father,  the 
One  God. 

Our  Lord  instituted  but  two  ordinances — baptism 
and  jthe  Lord’s  supper  ;  he  erected  but  two  monu¬ 
mental  pillars ;  one  without,  and  the  other  within 
the  church  :  on  the  first  of  these,  that  which  fronts 
the  world,  he  inscribed  the  gx*eat  name  of  the  triune 
God  ;  and,  as  if  to  render  the  inscription  more  im¬ 
pressive,  he  made  it  his  last  act.  Baptism  is  the  ves¬ 
tibule,  or  entrance,  to  his  spiritual  temple,  the  church ; 
so  that  before  his  disciples  can  pass  the  threshold,  he 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


201 


requires  them  to  receive  the  print  of  the  Sacred 
Name  :  and,  by  making  that  one  ceremony  final,  he 
reminds  them  that  the  holy  signature  is  indelible. 
By  baptizing  us  into  the  threefold  name  of  God,  he 
would  impress  us  at  the  very  outset  of  our  Christian 
life  with  the  fact,  that  the  work  of  our  salvation  is  so 
vast  that  it  brings  into  action  every  distinction  and 
attribute  of  the  divine  nature  ;  that  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  entire  Godhead,  find 
ample  scope  for  the  exercise  of  all  their  perfections, 
and  employment  for  all  the  affluence  of  their  grace. 
And  thus  would  he  put  every  part  and  property  of 
our  nature,  in  return,  into  active  requisition  in  his 
service ;  causing  us  to  feel  the  penury  of  our  utmost 
love,  and  constraining  us  cheerfully  to  own,  that, 
could  we  multiply  our  powers  three,  or  a  thousand 
fold,  they  should  all  be  his.  If,  before ,  we  consider¬ 
ed  our  obligations  infinite,  what  shall  we  think  of 
them  now,  on  beholding  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  three  distinct  subsistencies,  actually 
confederating  and  concurring  together,  and  embark¬ 
ing  all  their  infinite  treasures  in  the  cause  of  our 
happiness :  what  but  that  our  obligations,  which  we 
before  considered  infinite,  are  thus  multiplied  three¬ 
fold  !  a  multiplication  this  which  the  metaphysics  of 
a  grateful  heart  will  allow,  if  not  the  severer  philoso¬ 
phy  of  the  head.  How  amazing  the  thought,  that 
the  Godhead,  the  three  glorious  subsistencies  in  the 
Divine  Essence  should  be  all  officially  present  to  re¬ 
ceive  us  in  the  baptismal  solemnity,  the  porch  of  the 
church  ;  that  all  the  Divine  Being  should  be  there, 
to  enter  into  covenant  relation  with  us ;  that  we 
should  there  be  met  by  the  sum  of  excellence,  and 
have  it  ascertained  to  us,  that  to  the  uttermost  extent 
of  our  capacity  we  are  entitled  to  the  enjoyment  of 
the  whole.  An  ocean  of  happiness  placed  before 
those,  whose  hearts  overflow  with  a  drop  !  “  A  pre¬ 

sumptuous  idea,  if  our  own  invention ;  a  lofty  one, 
if  revealed  to  us.” 


202  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

“  Upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my  church.” 

“  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.” 

I.  Another  original  subject  contained  in  our  Lord’s 
teaching,  is  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  church.  The 
grand  conception  of  organizing  and  erecting  a  new 
community,  to  be  distinguished  from  all  the  existing 
forms  of  civil  society  in  the  world,  by  the  spiritual 
nature  and  design  of  its  government,  could  have  only 
originated  in  the  mind  of  one  who  had  himself  seen 
“  the  pattern  of  heavenly  things.”  Under  the  Mosaic 
economy,  this  exalted  scheme  existed  only  in  em¬ 
blem.  The  “  church  in  the  wilderness  the  Jsrael- 
itish  people,  nationally  selected,  and  separated  from 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  prefigured  an  approach¬ 
ing  separation  of  a  more  select  and  refined  nature, 
consisting  exclusively  of  “  Israelites  indeed.”  '  Christ 
came  to  realize  the  sublime  idea ;  to  be  himself  the 
heart  of  the  church ;  the  point  around  which  it 
should  crystalize  and  form;  and,  in  his  own  person, 
(humanity  inhabited  by  Deity,)  presented  at  once  the 
image  and  nucleus  of  the  unearthly  society. 

II.  The  voice  of  prophecy  had  declared  that  such 
would  be  the  spiritual  character  of  bis  new  kingdom. 
For  while  some  monstrous  type,  of  brute  ferocity 
and  power,  was  deemed  an  appropriate  symbol  of 
each  preceding  monarchy  as  seen  by  Daniel,  the  en¬ 
sign  of  the  Messiah’s  reign  was  distinguished  by  the 
likeness  of  the  Son  of  man  ;  aptly  denoting,  that 
while  they  prevailed  by  the  ascendancy  of  physical 
might,  from  his  kingdom  should  be  banished  every 
carnal  weapon,  and  instrument  of  coercion  ;  and  that 
to  him  should  belong  the  honor  of  recognizing  and 
erecting  the  prostrate  elements  of  humanity,  of 
reigning  by  the  spiritual  action  of  mind  on  mind,  the 
almighty  influence  of  enlightened  reason,  of  sancti¬ 
fied  gratitude  and  love.  it  was  distinctly  predicted 
that  his  kingdom,  instead  of  symbolizing  with  any  of 
the  governments  of  earth,  should  be  to  the  world  an 
image  of  his  own  sufficiency,  surpassing  and  encom- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


203 


passing  them  all.  At  first,  it  would.resemble  an  im- 
perium  in  imperio,  a  dominion  of  principle  and  af¬ 
fection  flourishing  amidst  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
like  the  verdure  of  paradise  set  in  the  desert ;  but  in 
the  end,  as  Bacon  describes  the  prevalence  of  a  far 
different  principle,  “it  bringeth  in  a  new  primum 
mobile,  that  ravisheth  all  the  spheres  of  govern¬ 
ment  ;  ”  forming  from  first  to  last,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  an  anomaly  of  government.  Accordingly, 
when  Jesus  came  to  erect  it  he  appeared  at  a  loss  for 
suitable  illustrations  by  which  to  explain  it  to  the 
minds  of  his  hearers.  “  Whereunto,”  saith  he  “shall 
we  liken  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  with  what  com¬ 
parison  shall  we  compare  it  ?”  None  of  the  govern¬ 
ments  of  the  world  supplied  an  analogy  :  he  who  is 
the  wisdom  of  God  seemed  embarrassed,  as  he  look¬ 
ed  around  the  world  of  civil  society  for  a  similtude, 
and  saw  that  it  contained  none. 

III.  But  though  the  constitution  he  designed  to 
erect  was  anew  creation,  he  constructed  it  in  a  man¬ 
ner  the  most  unforced  and  simple.  He  who  asked 
only  the  dust  of  the  earth  out  of  which  to  form  a 
creature  of  divine  lineaments : — he,  who  took  the 
universal  law  of  animal  nature  which  seeks  the  pro¬ 
pagation  of  its  kind,  and,  by  grafting  on  it  the  sacred 
institution  of  marriage,  made  it  produce  the  choicest 
fruits  of  the  earth  ;  thus  converting  and  consecrating 
an  animal  instinct,  a  principle  which  man  possesses 
only  in  common  with  brutes,  into  a  source  of  pure 
and  purifying  enjoyment,  which  more  than  any  oth¬ 
er  natural  means,  raises  and  distinguishes  man  above 
the  inferior  creation  :  he  asked  only  the  elements  of 
our  social  nature,  with  which  to  construct  “  his 
body,”  the  church.  “  Wherever  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  my  name,”  said  Christ,  “  there 
am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.”  He  knew  that  in  obe¬ 
dience  to  our  social  instincts,  to  the  law  which  leads 
us  to  seek  our  kind,  we  should  in  all  ages  continue 
to  associate  ;  he  saw  that,  in  the  kingdom  of  Satan, 
familiar  intercourse  is  one  of  the  principle  means 


204  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

for  extending  the  contagion  of  evil,  one  of  the  grand 
ordinances  of  sin,  and  he  determined  to  give  the 
same  principle  sanctified  scope  and  activity,  in  a 
sphere  where  it  might  prove  equally  efficacious  in 
the  production  and  reciprocation  of  good. 

IV.  His  church  is  the  court  of  holy  love,  filled 
with  offices  and  appointments  of  charity  and  grace. 
Bringing  into  it  pity,  and  kindness,  and  zeal,  he  bap¬ 
tizes  them  with  the  spirit  of  heaven,  assigns  them 
each  appropriate  duties,  and  commands  them  to  find 
and  fabricate  their  happiness  out  of  the  happiness  of 
others.  Here,  we  are  to  look  on  the  faults  of  others, 
only  to  pray  for,  and  assist  in  their  improvement ;  and 
to  contemplate  their  excellences,  only  to  admire  and 
imitate.  By  a  law  of  our  nature,  like  seeks  to  asso¬ 
ciate  with  like  ;  and,  in  his  church,  he  enables  holi¬ 
ness  to  allay  and  reinforce  itself  with  holiness  ;  he 
essays  to  make  the  least  portion  of  goodness  feel,  that 
it  is  identified  with  all  the  goodness  in  the  universe. 
The  fluid  which  is  about  to  crystalize,  does  not  more 
certainly  assume  the  form  of  the  crystal  inserted  in¬ 
to  it,  than  believers  modify  and  accelerate  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  their  character  by  associating  in  Christian  fel¬ 
lowship  ;  and  all  assimulate  to  Christ  their  common 
type  and  center ;  according  to  his  prayer  they  be¬ 
come  one  in  him. 

V.  Assimilation  is  a  law  of  our  nature,  but  the 
tendency  of  this  principle  in  the  world  is  to  hasten 
its  moral  decomposition  ;  whereas,  in  the  church,  it 
is  intended  to  renovate  and  restore  the  moral  health  ; 
and  thus  render  the  church  the  salt  of  the  earth. 
But,  to  secure  this  end,  it  is  evident  that  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  his  church  must  possess  a  character  essen¬ 
tially  different  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  And  this 
radical  change  must  take  place  prior  to  their  admis¬ 
sion  ;  otherwise,  there  is  no  guarantee  that  the  world 
will  not  modify  and  absorb  the  church ;  rather,  there 
is  the  strongest  probability  that  the  principle  of  as¬ 
similation  will  operate.  To  the  triumph  of  the 
world,  and  the  destruction  of  the  church. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


205 


1.  Previous  to  its  formation,  therefore,  this  was  the 
mandate  that  rang  through  Judea,  “Repent  ye,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  peculiar  ele¬ 
ments  were  wanted  to  constitute  this  new  society ; 
subjects  were  called  for  to  enrol  under  this  new  form 
of  government ;  and  repentance,  transmentation,  a 
change  of  mind,  was  the  indispensable  condition  of 
enrolment.  Its  divine  Founder  followed,  and  intent 
on  its  purity,  he  not  only  echoed  the  same  call,  but 
inscribed  over  its  great  entrance-gate  the  memora¬ 
ble  sentence,  “Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  can¬ 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.”  He  command¬ 
ed  his  disciples  to  go  through  the  world  proclaim¬ 
ing  repentance  and  the  remission  of  sins  in  his  name, 
baptizing  them,  (baptizing,  that  is,  such  as,  being  ca¬ 
pable,  obeyed  the  call  to  repentance,  and  accepted 
the  offer  of  forgiveness  ;)  these  specimens  of  regen¬ 
erated  humanity,  already  selected  by  the  divine  hand, 
and  baptized  with  the  Spirit,  they  were  to  collect, 
and  admit  by  the  door  of  visible  baptism  into  the 
Christian  church. 

2.  That  this  church  is  to  be  composed  only  of 
spiritual  elements,  of  such  only  as  appear  and  pro¬ 
fess  to  be  the  subjects  of  a  divine  change,  is  evident 
from  the  power  with  which  he  has  armed  it  to  ex¬ 
pel  offenders.  “  Moreover,  if  thy  brother  shall  tres¬ 
pass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between 
thee  and  him  alone :  if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  hast 
gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear  thee, 
then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the 
mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be 
established.  And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them, 
tell  it  unto  the  church  :  but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the 
church,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  or 
publican.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye 
shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven ;  and 
whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven.  Again,  I  say  unto  you,  That  if  two  of  you 
shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  any  thing  that  they 
shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father 

18 


206 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


which  is  in  heaven.  For  where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  ray  name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst  of  them.” 

The  whole  of  this  paragraph  evidently  relates  to 
the  same  subject ;  containing  the  rudiments  of 
church  government,  forming  the  only  authentic  and 
divine  platform  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  We 
learn  from  it,  first,  that  mere  nominal  Christians  have 
no  room  provided  for  them  in  his  church ;  for  it  is  ob¬ 
viously  implied  that  all  its  members,  have  such  hab¬ 
its,  of  charity  and  devotion  to  maintain,  and  such 
holy  offices  to  fill  as  the  representatives  of  Christ, 
and  duties  to  discharge  requiring  his  seal  and  fiat  to 
give  them  validity  ;  all  of  so  spiritual  and  distinctive 
a  character  that  they  necessarily  presuppose  the  pos¬ 
session  of  nothing  less  than  vital  godliness.  Second¬ 
ly,  it  implies  that  when  instances  arise  in  the  church, 
calling  for  the  exercise  of  discipline,  the  members  of 
the  church  alone  are  sufficient  to  administer  the  dis¬ 
cipline  necessary,  without  the  intervention  of  any 
civil  authority  from  without.  For,  thirdly,  it  might 
occur  that  were  a  civil  arm  a  part  of  the  organization 
of  the  church,  that  arm  might  be  the  very  part  of 
the  body  requiring  excision  ;  an  hypothesis  by  no 
means  extravagant,  if  the  spirituality  and  purity  of 
the  church  be  an  object ;  but  unless  the  power  of  ex¬ 
cision  be  lodged  in  the  spiritual  community  itself, 
this  necessary  purification  could  not  take  place. 
And,  fourthly,  it  instructs  us,  that  a  church  though 
composed  of  only  “two  or  three,”  is  complete  in  it¬ 
self  ;  that,  like  the  human  body,  it  possesses  a  self- 
correcting  principle,  an  expulsive  power ;  and  is 
competent  to  the  discharge  of  all  its  peculiar  duties. 

The  correction  of  incidental  evils,  and  the  expul¬ 
sion  of  offenders,  constitute  the  most  delicate  and 
difficult  class  of  duties  which  a  Christian  church  has 
to  perform.  But  the  task  is  imperative,  and  the  dis¬ 
charge  of  it  vital  to  the  health  and  purity  of  the  soci¬ 
ety  ;  our  Lord,  therefore,  in  legislating  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  is  unusually  particular  and  encouraging.  He 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


207 


exalts  the  duty  of  Christian  reproof  into  a  standing- 
ordinance  ;  appoints  the  method,  and  specifies  the 
several  ascending  degrees  of  its  administration,  till  it 
has  been  brought  to  bear  in  its  utmost  force  and 
power  on  the  conscience  of  the  offending  subject. 
Should  it  prove  ineffectual  to  his  recovery,  the  only 
remaining  step  is  his  excommunication.  In  exercis¬ 
ing  this  solemn  function,  this  highest  prerogative, 
they  are  to  come  into  the  presence  of  Christ  as  the 
fountain  of  their  power :  he  declares  that  he  will  de¬ 
scend  to  be  a  party  in  the  final,  awful  transaction  ; 
that  as  they  discharge  the  painful  task,  he  will  ratify 
it ;  that  as  they  pronounce  the  sentence  charged  with 
the  terrors  of  Sinai,  he  will  adopt  it  as  his  own,  and 
re-echo  it,  “  as  if  many  thunders  uttered  their  voices” 
in  the  conscience  of  the  doomed  offender.  And  this 
appeal  to  himself  he  appoints  as  final,  as  the  lie  plus 
ultra  of  church  discipline  ;  to  appeal  elsewhere 
would  be  an  impeachment  of  his  authority,  and  trea¬ 
son  against  his  throne. 

And  let  no  one  speak  lightly  of  this  power  of  re¬ 
buke  and  expulsion.  The  omnipotence  of  public 
opinion,  for  instance,  has  almost  become  a  proverbial 
expression.  The  world  at  present  acknowledges 
nothing  so  mighty,  though  silent  in  its  operations. 
Its  slightest  whisper  is  law  to  a  nation.  It  utters  a 
prediction,  and  all  the  powers  of  society  rush  to  ac¬ 
complish  the  prophecy.  Unable  to  endure  its  cen¬ 
sure,  numbers  seek  the  asylum  of  the  grave  ;  and  ra¬ 
ther  than  encounter  its  denunciations,  even  thrones 
have  trembled  and  hid  themselves  in  the  dust.  But 
in  uttering  rebuke,  the  voice  of  the  church  is  public 
opinion  in  its  most  concentrated  form,  borrowing 
mysterious  efficacy  from  the  presence  and  co-opera¬ 
tion  of  an  invisible  Agent,  and  gathering  tones  of 
alarm  by  passing  through  the  avenues  of  an  affrighted 
soul.  As  the  necessity  of  punishing  the  offender 
springs  from  the  first  principles  in  the  divine  nature, 
so  the  sentence  of  punishment  harmonizes  with  the 
first  principles  of  his  own  nature,  meets  and  coales- 


208 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ces  with  all  the  remorse  in  his  bosom,  finds  a  ready 
and  loud  response  from  his  conscience,  and  arms 
him  against  himself.  Sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,  it  inflicts  a  wound  on  the  spirit  for  which 
earth  has  no  remedy.  It  is  a  flash  of  that  consuming 
lightning,  which,  leaving  the  outward  man  unscath¬ 
ed,  passes  direct  to  its  mark  within,  scorching  the 
conscious  soul,  and  turning  all  its  joys  to  ashes.  It 
is  even  an  anticipation  of  the  last  day,  a  foretaste  of 
that  consummation  of  terrors  ;  flashing  the  fires  of 
the  lake  that  burneth  on  the  face  of  the*soul;  cutting 
it  off  from  God,  delivering  it  over  to  Satan  as  a  seal¬ 
ed  anathema,  an  eternal  outcast  from  hope  and  grace. 
Such  is  its  eflicacy  when  impartially  administered, 
in  connexion  with  the  other  branches  of  Christian 
discipline,  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  church,  that 
were  it  sufficiently  known,  Christians  would  no  more 
think  of  calling  temporal  aid  into  the  church,  than 
they  would  of  deputing  an  arm  of  flesh  to  guide  and 
assist  the  bolt  of  heaven  to  its  destined  object. 

3.  The  severe  denunciations  which  Jesus  uttered 
against  the  Pharisees,  for  “  teaching  as  doctrine  the 
commandments  of  men  ;”  discharging  all  his  thun¬ 
ders  on  the  intrusion  of  human  authority  into  the 
worship  of  God,  and  on  the  sanctimonious  hypocrisy 
which  naturally  ensued,  indicated  clearly  the  spiritu¬ 
al  nature  of  the  church  which  he  designed.  He 
found  the  world  in  the  church  ;  but  he  determined 
to  reverse  their  relative  position,  to  construct  and 
perpetuate  his  new  society  as  a  church  in  the  world. 
“  Every  plant,”  said  Christ,  and  he  spoke  prospec¬ 
tively,  as  well  as  in  reference  to  existing  evils,  “  Eve¬ 
ry  plant  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted 
shall  be  rooted  up.”  The  church  is  a  sacred  enclo¬ 
sure  taken  in  from  the  world  ;  brought  into  cultiva¬ 
tion  by  the  Divine  Husbandman  ;  and  intended  to  be 
filled  exclusively  with  the  plants  of  righteousness. 
On  the  outside  of  this  enclosure  is  to  be  found  the 
spontaneous  produce  of  evil,  bringing  forth  fruit  un¬ 
to  death  ;  but  all  within  are  meant  to  be  “plants  of 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


209 

the  Lord’s  right-hand  planting,”  exhibiting  in  the 
liuits  they  bear  the  essential  difference  between  sin 
and  holiness,  and  the  infinite  superiority  of  his  trans¬ 
forming  grace  over  the  deadly  produce  of  depraved 
nature.  But  if,  in  defiance  of  this  arrangement,  the 
hand  of  the  world  be  allowed  to  interfere,  his  design 
is  defeated  ;  plants  are  brought  in  which  are  not  of 
his  selection  ;  his  Eden  is  degraded  into  a  spot  for 
human  experiments,  in  which  the  produce  of  grace 
is  supplanted  by  poisonous  exotics,  and  overrun  with 
the  noxious  weeds  of  human  tradition.  He  design¬ 
ed  the  church  to  be  his  own  pcculium :  it  is  the  only 
fortress  which  he  holds  in  a  revolted  world  ;  and 
he  intended,  therefore,  that  no  authority  should  be 
known  in  it,  no  laws  acknowledged,  but  his  own  ; 
that  no  parties  should  obtain  permission  but  those 
“  who  are  called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful so  that 
to  open  its  gates  for  the  entrance  of  any  of  the  re¬ 
volted,  however  specious  the  pretext,  is  a  betrayal  of 
the  most  sacred  trust,  and  treachery  to  the  great 
cause  of  Christ.  His  design  is,  that  as  Satan  has  a 
church  (he  himself  speaks  of  the  synagogue  of  Sa¬ 
tan)  consisting  of  the  children  of  sin  ;  a  church  in 
which  men  have  been  always  laboring  to  cast  off  the 
divine  law,  and  to  confound  the  distinction  between 
good  and  evil ;  so  he  woidd  have  a  church  in  which 
these  essential  distinctions  should  again  be  restored 
and  exemplified,  and  in  which  the  beapties  of  holi- 
pess,  seen  in  their  native  luster,  should  attract  the 
notice,  and  extort  the  admiration  of  the  universe. 
These  are  the  fruits  by  which  its  members  were  to 
glorify  God  ;  these  the  unearthly  marks  by  which  all 
men  should  know  them  as  his  disciples. 

But  then,  in  order  to  the  success  of  this  grand  de¬ 
sign,  it  is  essential  that  man  should  not  intermeddle 
— the  process  is  divine  throughout.  Had  Christ  ta¬ 
ken  up  his  residence  visibly  and  permanently  on 
earth,  the  impertineuce  and  impiety  of  interfering 
with  the  arrangements  of  his  church  would  have 
been  too  palpable  to  be  attempted.  But  though  he 
18* 


210  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

has  departed,  he  appointed  the  Spirit  as  his  succes¬ 
sor,  and  promised  him  as  more  than  his  equal  in  the 
superintendence  of  the  church  ;  the  Spirit  has  come, 
and  in  the  scriptures  of  his  own  dictation  has  pre¬ 
sented  the  church  with  its  only  code  and  charter ;  so 
that  for  man  to  interfere,  is  either  to  impugn  the  di¬ 
vine  sufficiency  of  the  Spirit,  or  to  convict  himself  of 
presumptuous  impiety.  To  every  such  intruder  the 
language  of  Christ  is  decisive,  “  My  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world  it  has  no  principle  in  common  with 
the  kingdoms  of  earth  ;  it  refuses  all  human  patron¬ 
age  ;  rejects,  and  casts  off  from  itself  as  alien  to  its 
nature,  the  aid  of  temporal  pains  and  penalties  ;  and 
for  a  man  to  put  forth  his  hand  with  a  patronizing  air 
to  support  it,  is  to  endanger  its  safety,  or  to  peril  his 
own. 

Whether  personally  present  or  absent,  our  Lord 
designed  his  church  to  exhibit  to  the  world  an  image 
of  his  own  sufficiency ;  to  furnish  to  it  a  standing 
representation  of  another  world,  of  other  laws  than 
earth  obeys,  and  of  a  higher  order  of  enjoyment  and 
power  than  man  possesses,  derived  from  a  source  in¬ 
dependent  of  all  created  means.  But  in  order  to  an¬ 
swer  its  original  intention,  its  heavenly  Founder 
must  be  left  unimpeded  to  work  out  his  great  idea. 
If  his  church  is  to  resemble  a  temple,  let  it  be  built 
after  the  pattern  of  things  in  the  heavens  ;  let  it  have 
the  exact  dimensions  and  proportions  assigned  by 
the  angel-architect,  who  brought  to  the  work  his 
golden  measuring  rod  from  heaven,  and  it  will  lift 
up  its  head  into  the  light  of  day,  and  tower  towards 
heaven,  a  stately  and  magnificent  fabric,  visibly  in¬ 
habited  by  the  shekinah  of  the  divine  presence,  made 
transparent  by  the  enshrined  glory,  and  radiating 
around  in  all  directions  its  dazzling  beams,  so  as  to 
invite  admiration,  to  repel  the  presumptuous  approach 
and  smite  with  blindness  the  profane  gaze  of  irreli- 
gion — finding  in  its  own  glory  its  luster  and  defense. 
If  the  church  is  to  attain  the  fair  proportions,  and 
to  reach  the  immortal  stature  of  the  body  of  Christ, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


211 

let  her  be  fed  with  the  manna  which  his  own  hand 
supplies,  and  grow  as  the  in-dwelling  life  shall  ex¬ 
pand,  and  be  left  to  the  sole  guardianship  of  his  own 
grace,  and  she  shall  move  in  her  own  light,  clad  in 
more  than  complete  steel,  having  the  robes  of  divini¬ 
ty  about  her,  frowning  impurity  from  her  path  with 
a  look,  surprising  curiosity  into  blank  awe,  into  in¬ 
voluntary  and  prostrate  adoration  by  her  noble  grace 
and  bearing,  and  passing  on  in  unblenched  majesty, 
she  shall  perform  the  heroic  works  and  exploits  as¬ 
signed  her  by  God  ; — a  wonder  !  astonishing  heaven 
and  earth  ; — “  a  woman,  clothed  with  the  sun,  and 
the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown 
of  twelve  stars being  adorned  with  celestial  attire, 
and  crowned  with  light ;  instead  of  seeking  to  en¬ 
hance  her  glory  by  sublunary  ornaments,  she  evin¬ 
ces  her  spiritual  nobility  by  treading  them  under  foot. 
Oh !  had  men  revered  the  evident  intention  of  the 
Great  Head  of  the  church  ;  instead  of  encumbering 
religion  as  they  have,  and  weighing  her  down  to  the 
dust  with  a  load  of  earth-made  armor,  they  would 
have  seen  her.  equipped  in  the  light,  but  indestructi¬ 
ble  panoply  of  grace,  advance  to  her  appointed  con¬ 
flict,  terrible  as  a  bannered  host ;  carrying  with  her 
the  sympathies  of  the  groaning  creation,  whose 
champion  she  is ;  trampling  her  enemies  under  foot, 
(the  earth  itself  helping  her  in  her  straits,)  her  weak¬ 
ness  doing  the  deeds  of  might,  deeds  which  omnip¬ 
otence  might  own ;  gathering  up  trophies  at  every 
step ;  and  returning  at  length  from  the  circuit  and 
conquest  of  the  world  with  a  train  of  willing  cap¬ 
tives  which  no  one  can  number,  of  all  nations,  kind¬ 
reds,  tongues,  and  people;  and  laden  with  many 
crowns  for  him  whose  strength  had  resided  in  her 
right  arm,  and  who  alone  had  caused  her  to  triumph 
in  every  place. 

4.  But  the  church  of  Christ,  enfeebled  and  defec¬ 
tive  as  it  may  be,  is  that  only  object  on  earth,  on 
which  he  bestows  his  supreme  regard.  If  his  atten¬ 
tion  is  divided,  it  is  only  between  his  church  below 


212 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


and  his  church  in  heaven  ;  but  in  his  estimation  they 
are  identical,  they  are  only  two  portions  of  the  one 
object  which  constitutes  in  his  eyes  the  glory  of  the 
universe.  The  affairs  of  the  world,  indeed,  are  un¬ 
der  his  superintendence,  but  always  with  an  especial 
view  to  the  prosperity  of  his  church.  While  he  ex¬ 
tends  his  scepter,  and  dispatches  his  angels  to  every 
part  of  the  world,  he  engages  to  comply  personally 
into  the  midst  of  his  church,  and  to  honor  their 
prayers  and  decisions  by  regarding  them  as  laws  for 
his  own  conduct.  The  church  is  his  mystical  body  ; 
and  he  is  present  as  the  vital  head,  living  through  all 
its  members.  It  is  the  theatre  of  his  grace  ;  in  which 
he  is  making  experiments  of  mercy  on  human  hearts, 
and  effecting  transformations  so  amazing  that  angels 
look  on  with  astonishment  and  joy.  Here  he  is 
training  up  a  number  of  those  who  were  children  of 
wrath,  and  preparing  them  to  take  part  in  the  busi¬ 
ness  and  pleasures  of  heaven.  He  has  it  in  prospect 
to  collect  a  large  revenue  of  glory  from  earth  ;  anil 
his  church  is  the  repository  in  which  all  that  wealth 
is  stored,  preparatory  to  its  full  and  final  display. 
His  appointment  of  her  ordinances,  the  full-souled 
ardor  of  his  intercessory  prayer  that  she  might  be 
with  him,  one  with  him  forever ;  his  donation  and 
dowry  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  his  rich  and  constant  sup¬ 
plies  of  grace  ;  his  watchful  jealousy  of  all  the  advan¬ 
ces  of  temporal  power  ;  and  the  encompassing  wall 
of  fire  into  which  his  perfections  kindle  for  her 
protection  ;  a  wall  which  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
break  and  enter;  all  concur  to  show,  that,  as  the 
elected  bridegroom  of  the  church,  he  is  looking  for¬ 
ward  to  the  spousal  day,  when,  having  made  herself 
as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  he  shall  find  in 
her  unwrinkled  beauty  and  spotless  perfection,  the 
solace  and  reward  of  all  his  love  ;  and  in  her  full 
happiness  the  supplement  and  completion  of  his  own 
glory.  Now  he  is  the  center  from  which  radiates  all 
her  splendor,  then  he  shall  be  the  focus  to  which  it 
shall  all  return.  His  voice  shall  be  the  only  sound 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


213 


to  which  his  church  shall  listen  ;  his  glory  the  only 
object  on  which  her  eye  shall  fasten  ;  his  grace, 
matchless  and  untold,  the  only  theme  that  shall  en¬ 
gage  her  tongue.  “  Blessed  are  they  who  are  called 
unto  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.” 


SECTION  V. — ON  SATANIC  AGENCY. 

“  The  Devil  and  his  angels.” 

Angelic  agency,  both  good  and  had,  is  a  doctrine 
familiar  to  the  Old  Testament.  That  part  of  the 
doctrine  which  relates  to  the  ministry  of  holy  angels, 
indeed,  is  there  so  fully  illustrated,  that,  although  the 
discourses  of  Christ  contain  frequent  allusions  to  it, 
they  present  so  little  that  is  new,  except  the  conspic¬ 
uous  part  they  will  enact  in  the  solemnities  of  the 
last  day  ;  and  the  fact  that  they  are  his  ;  that  the  few 
remarks  on  the  subject  we  propose  to  advance,  will 
relate  exclusively  to  “  the  devil  and  his  angels.” 
Concerning  these,  the  teaching  of  Christ  is  more  co¬ 
pious,  explicit,  and  original :  as  if,  in  compassion  to 
our  fears,  the  full  exposure  of  our  danger  from  hell 
had  been  reserved,  till  he  could  furnish  the  antidote 
to  those  fears  by  revealing  the  counteracting  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Having  assumed  the  championship  of  the  world, 
and  being  confident  of  ultimate  triumph,  our  Lord 
did  not  hesitate  to  confirm  our  worst  apprehensions 
of  the  numbers,  and  powers,  and  malice  of  our  spir¬ 
itual  foes.  He  opened  our  eyes,  and,  behold !  the 
enemy  in  full  possession  of  our  world.  And,  as  if 
the  seat  of  the  infernal  government  had  been  long 
since  transferred  from  hell  to  earth,  he  repealed  its 
princely  titles  as  familiar  words,  enlarged  on  its  do¬ 
minion,  and  pointed  out  its  thrones,  principalities, 


214 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


and  powers.  Among  these  he  spoke  of  one  as  Sa¬ 
tan  ;  Beelzebub  ;  a  liar  ;  a  murderer  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  ;  the  wicked  and  evil  one  ;  one  who,  by  tramp¬ 
ling  on  law,  had  acquired  the  authority  of  a  legislator 
on  guilt :  one  who,  by  signalizing  himself  as  the  most 
daring  of  rebels,  had  reached  the  bad  pre-eminence 
of  the  “  prince  of  demons.” 

Of  the  number  of  his  angels  we  can  form  only 
a  conjecture:  but  the  fact,  that  his  “field  is  the 
world  that  he  is  represented  as  multiplying  himself 
through  their  agency  over  the  whole  field  ;  and  con¬ 
curring  in,  if  not  actually  instigating,  all  the  evils 
which  it  contains,  warrants  the  conjecture  that  they 
out-number  the  human  race.  Let  no  man,  then  hope 
to  escape  temptation,  through  any  lack  of  Satanic 
agents.  He,  whose  resources  enable  him  to  devote  a 
legion  to  torment  alhuman  body,  cannot  be  wanting 
in  instruments  to  tempt  and  destroy  the  immortal 
soul. 

Whether  sin  had  ever  entered  the  universe,  at  any 
dateless  period  prior  to  the  angelic  apostacy,  we 
know  not ;  it  is  certain  that  we  can  only  trace  its 
history  up  to  that  mysterious  event.  Speaking  of 
Satan,  our  Lord  declares  that  “  he  abode  not  in  the 
truth  once,  he  possessed  a  throne  where  all  is 
radiant  with  holiness  and  joy,  but  he  swerved 
from  his  allegiance  to  “  the  blessed  and  only  Poten¬ 
tate,”  and  thus  lost  his  first  estate.  Together  with 
an  unknown  multitude  of  associate  rebels,  he  was 
driven  from  the  presence  of  God,  cut  off  from  the 
loyal  part  of  the  creation,  and  doomed  to  be  the  prey 
of  his  own  mighty  depravity.  From  that  moment  he 
became  the  avowed  antagonist  of  God ;  established  an 
infernal  empire,  and  planted  the  standard  of  rebel¬ 
lion,  around  which  all  the  principles  and  powers  of 
evil  might  rally  and  combine.  Actuated  by  that  uni¬ 
versal  law,  by  which  each  being  and  principle  seeks 
to  conform  all  things  to  its  own  nature,  and  stimulat¬ 
ed  by  implacable  hatred  against  God,  he  no  sooner 
found  our  world  created,  than  he  came  to  efface  from 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


215 


it  the  image  of  God  and  to  stamp  his  own  on  its 
breast.  In  the  execution  of  this  dreadful  project  he 
succeeded ;  meriting,  by  the  means  which  he  adopt¬ 
ed,  and  the  dreadful  results  of  his  success,  the  titles 
of  liar,  the  father  of  lies,  and  a  murderer  from  the 
beginning.  He  impregnated  the  heart  of  man  with 
the  awful  spirit  of  revolt,  and  added  earth  to  his  in¬ 
fernal  empire  ;  involving  the  whole  species  in  guilt  ; 
introducing  death,  (now  perhaps  first  known,)  into  the 
dominions  of  God;  and  leading  mankind,  generation 
after  generation,  into  the  outer  darkness  of  his  own 
proper  region.  And  of  all  the  vast  and  complicated 
agency  of  evil,  by  which  the  sinfulness  and  misery  of 
the  world  is  perpetuated,*  he  is  “the  Wicked  One,” 
the  Evil,  the  great  efficient  cause.  His  throne  is  the 
rallying  point,  to  which  all  evil  looks  for  reinforce¬ 
ment  and  support;  the  center,  from  which  flows, 
and  to  which  gravitates,  all  evil ;  the  heart  of  the 
great  system  of  guilt. 

The  domination  which  Satan  has  acquired  on  earth 
is  called  by  Christ  a  kingdom  ;  in  which  he  posses¬ 
ses,  by  right  of  supremacy  in  guilt,  the  princely  ti¬ 
tles,  and  exercises  the  prerogatives  of  royalty.  Un¬ 
able  to  expel  God  from  his  throne,  and  thus  succeed 
to  the  homage  of  man  ;  he  had,  by  a  universal  sys¬ 
tem  of  idolatry,  planted  his  throne  between  the  hu¬ 
man  worshiper  and  the  Divine  Being,  intercepting 
and  appropriating  the  adoration  which  belonged  to 
God  alone.  But,  in  order  that  earth  might  not  quite 
forget  its  rightful  Lord,  Jehovah  was  pleased  to  se¬ 
lect  a  people  and  erect  a  temple,  expressly  for  the 
maintenance  of  his  true  worship.  They  held  their 
country  from  God,  on  the  express  condition  of  fealty 
to  his  throne.  From  the  moment  of  that  arrange¬ 
ment,  Satan  may  be  said  to  have  made  a  descent  on 
Judea;  its  temple  was  a  memorial  of  his  tyranny,  a 
standing  protest  against  his  usurpation  ;  its  worship, 
a  national  proclamation,  daily  repeated,  in  the  name 
of  heaven,  of  his  treason  and  guilt.  At  different 
times  he  seems  to  have  put  all  the  forces  of  his 


216  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

kingdom  into  motion  to  bear  upon  it:  for  to  shut  up 
the  temple  of  God,  to  seduce  the  people  to  idolatry, 
to  erect  an  idol  in  the  holy  place,  was  to  sit  on  the 
only  throne  of  God  upon  earth,  was  a  triumph  which 
could  only  be  exceeded  by  ascending  the  throne  of 
heaven. 

For  ages  previous  to  the  divine  advent,  the  world 
seemed  almost  entirely  his  own.  His  contest  for 
earthly  supremacy,  so  long  disputed  by  heaven, 
seemed  crowned  with  success.  His  vice-regencies 
and  powers  sat  in  the  quiet  and  unchallenged  pos¬ 
session  of  their  thrones.  No  prophet  smote  them  on 
their  lofty  seats,  or  denounced  their  usurpations ;  no 
miracle  reminded  them  of  an  omnipotent  antagonist 
The  world  appeared  to  be  as  completely  theirs,  to 
portion  out,  and  rule  at  pleasure,  as  if  they  held  it 
by  grant  and  seal  from  God  himself,  and  were  ap¬ 
pointed  to  reign  in  his  name.  Nor  did  Judea  itself 
form  an  exception  to  this  wide  infernal  sway ;  for 
(short  of  formal  idolatry)  it  belonged  to  the  universal 
confederacy,  and  formed  one  of  the  fairest  and  most 
faithful  provinces  of  the  Satanic  empire.  And,  as  if 
to  exact  a  terrible  compensation,  even  for  this  slight 
nominal  deduction  from  full  allegiance,  many  of  its 
inhabitants  were  held  as  hostages  to  hell,  by  a  terrible 
system  of  demonaical  possession.  Satan  had  be¬ 
come  “the  prince  of  this  world.”  Wherever  he 
looked  the  expanse  was  his  own  ;  the  teeming  popu¬ 
lation  were  his  subjects:  the  invisible  rulers  were 
his  selected  agents;  temptation  in  his  hands  had  be¬ 
come  a  science,  and  sin  was  taught  by  rule  ;  the 
world  was  one  storehouse  of  temptation  ;  an  armory 
in  which  every  object  and  event  ranked  as  a  weapon, 
and  all  classed  and  kept  ready  for  service  ;  every  hu¬ 
man  heart  was  a  fortified  place  :  every  demon  pow¬ 
er  was  at  its  post :  he  beheld  the  complicated  ma¬ 
chinery  of  evil,  which  his  mighty  malignity  had  con¬ 
structed,  in  full  and  efficient  operation  ;  no  heart  un¬ 
occupied,  no  spot  unvisited,  no  agency  unemployed  ; 
and  the  whole  resulting  in  a  vast,  organized  and  con- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


217 


solidated  empire.  No  sooner,  therefore,  did  Jesus 
begin  to  attract  the  attention  of  Judea,  as  the  “Sent 
of  God,”  than  he  became  obnoxious  to  the  tyrant’s 
hate.  In  the  usurped  capacity  of  the  sovereign  of 
the  world,  the  tempter  went  forth  and  met  him,  ask¬ 
ing  him  only  to  own  that  sovereignty,  and  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  should  be  his,  and  the  glo¬ 
ry  of  them. 

But  the  great  object  which  had  brought  Christ  up¬ 
on  earth,  was  to  dispute  that  sovereignty,  to  re-assert 
the  original  and  supreme  rights  of  God  to  the  alien¬ 
ated  homage  of  mankind,  and  thus  rescue  man  from 
the  grasp  of  the  Destroyer.  What  the  enemy  reserv¬ 
ed  as  his  last  and  most  powerful  temptation,  the 
splendid  vision  of  a  thousand  provinces ;  was  a  sight, 
we  may  suppose,  familiar  to  the  eye  of  Christ ;  though 
seen  by  him,  alas !  under  a  far  distant  aspect.  He 
beheld  in  it  a  scene  of  woe,  which  never  failed  to 
call  forth  his  profound  compassion.  On  all  sides  he 
beheld  the  blinded  victims  of  satanic  cruelty ;  vast, 
crowded  tracts  of  spiritual  beings,  immortal  essen¬ 
ces,  wasted,  ruined,  murdered,  lost ;  a  captive  world, 
chained  to  the  wheels  of  the  spoiler,  and  moving 
along,  (most  of  them  so  beguiled,  as  to  be  actually 
pleased  with  the  mock  pomp  of  the  gloomy  proces¬ 
sion,)  to  endless  death.  While  immediately  beneath 
his  eye,  in  the  very  land  where  he  had  taken  human¬ 
ity,  he  saw  legions  of  fiends,  in  actual,  bodily  posses¬ 
sion  of  miserable  man.  Not  satisfied  with  the  evil 
they  could  inflict  by  ordinary  temptation,  he  beheld 
them  consummating  their  cruelty  by  actually  incor¬ 
porating  them  with  men ;  turning  their  bodies  into 
living  t<*>mbs,  engrossing  and  demonizing  all  their 
powers,  merging  the  man  in  the  fiend.  Yes,  man, 
who  had  been  created  in  the  image  of  God,  became 
“  the  habitation  of  dragons;”  his  heart  the  fuel  con¬ 
sumed  by  then’  passions ;  his  senses  and  organs,  the 
slaves  of  their  rampant  impiety ;  hell  brought  to  him, 
and  begun  in  him,  upon  earth ;  an  incarnate  demon, 
his  features  putting  on  the  image  of  the  legion  with- 
19 


218 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


in  him ; — what  a  sight  for  the  Lover  of  souls !  what 
a  spectacle  for  infinite  goodness  to  contemplate ! 
The  Saviour  beheld,  and  meditated  relief.  He  made 
bare  his  arm,  and  the  unclean  spirits  fled  at  his  ap¬ 
proach.  He  sent  his  disciples,  first  twelve,  then  sev¬ 
enty,  to  traverse  the  land  in  all  directions ;  each  of 
them  armed,  and  charged,  to  cast  out  devils  ;  and 
again  he  repeated  the  charge  to  his  apostles,  when  on 
his  way  to  ascend  from  earth  to  heaven. 

When  vindicating  the  character  of  his  power 
from  the  imputation  of  the  Pharisees,  he  affirmed 
that  it  was  of  a  nature  essentially  hostile  to  Satan, 
and  subversive  of  his  kingdom.  While  the  foresight 
of  the  redemption  his  death  would  achieve  enabled 
him  to  speak  of  the  future  as  if  it  had  been  present, 
and  to  say,  “  Now  is  the  prince  of  this  world  cast  out.” 
The  voice  of  prophecy  had  declared,  “He  shall  di¬ 
vide  the  spoil  with  the  strong and  in  fulfillment  of 
the  prediction,  he  planted  himself  full  in  the  pathway 
of  the  destroyer :  he  may  be  said  to  have  erected  his 
cross  in  the  highway  to  hell,  that  he  might  rescue 
sinners  from  the  very  jaws  of  perdition. 

Now,  as  Satan  possesses  on  earth  official  ubiquity, 
as  he  is  every  where  present  through  the  medium  of 
his  agents,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  an  event  so 
signalized  as  the  advent  of  Christ  would  escape  his 
knowledge ;  or,  that  being  known,  it  would  fail  to 
call  forth  his  jealous  vigilance  and  utmost  opposi- 
sition.  Knowing,  indeed,  as  we  do,  the  essential  dig¬ 
nity  of  Christ,  we  might  have  hoped  that,  in  defe¬ 
rence  to  his  purity  and  majesty,  temptation  would 
have  retired  from  his  presence,  or  have  laid  its  bane¬ 
ful  activity  to  sleep ;  that  the  powers  of  darkness 
would  have  left  him  a  free  and  open  passage  through 
the  world  :  and  that  his  disciples  would  have  found 
in  his  hallowed  presence  a  certain  shelter  from  the 
persecutions  of  hell.  But,  so  far  from  this,  his  com¬ 
ing  awoke  all  the  original  antipathy,  the  native  oppug- 
nancy,  of  evil  against  good.  He  had  come  into  a 
world  in  which  nothing  in  human  form  had  ever  es- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


219 


caped  the  pollution  of  sin  ;  and  he  had  come  here, 
attested  by  such  signal  credentials  of  a  divine  com¬ 
mission,  that  from  the  hour  of  his  advent,  through  the 
whole  of  his  earthly  course,  Satan  appears  to  have 
called  in  his  agents  from  every  other  pursuit,  and  to 
have  set  them  in  array  against  him  alone  ;  turning 
away  from  all  ignobler  prey,  and  he  seems  to  have 
made  him  the  sole  mark  for  every  shaft  and  weapon 
of  hell.  As  if  the  temptation  of  Christ  were  too 
great  an  enterprise,  a  field  too  momentous,  to  be  left 
to  the  power  of  a  common  arm,  the  prince  of  dark¬ 
ness,  himself,  undertook  personally  to  conduct  the 
untried  adventure.  Having  drawn  out  his  forces, 
and  entrenched  himself  in  his  way,  he  came  into  ea¬ 
ger  and  determined  collision  with  Christ  on  the  very 
threshold  of  his  public  life ;  leaving  him  to  infer, 
that  if  he  persisted  in  his  intended  course,  his  pro¬ 
gress  would  be  disputed,  step  by  step. 

Nor  are  the  eventful  narratives  of  the  evangelists 
wanting  in  intimations  that  the  threat  was  made  good. 
In  his  own  express  language,  especially  as  that  lan¬ 
guage  is  afterwards  illustrated  by  the  apostles,  we 
can  only  arrive  at  one  conclusion,  that  his  w'hole  life 
was  a  continued  conflict,  hourly  increasing  in  fierce¬ 
ness  and  malignity  on  the  part  of  hell,  till  it  came  to 
the  crisis  of  Calvary.  “  The  prince  of  this  world 
cometh,”  said  he,  “and hath  nothing  in  me.”  “Now 
shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out.”  “  This 
is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness.”  During 
that  dreadful  hour,  indeed,  no  foe  could  be  seen  by 
man,  but  such  as  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  had  poured 
forth.  And  it  is  true,  that,  had  that  been  the  only 
foe,  the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  had  that  day  col¬ 
lected  and  led  out  her  chosen  bands  from  the  halls 
and  streets  of  the  city  ;  had  assembled  and  crowded 
around  the  cross  the  darkest  elements  of  human  de¬ 
pravity.  But  the  greed  Foe  was  invisible.  Often  had 
lie  assailed  the  life  of  Jesus  before,  but  as  often  had 
he  been  defeated  ;  it  seemed  guarded  like  the  tree  of 
life  itself,  with  a  sword  which  turned  every  way. 


220 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


But  now,  at  length,  his  persevering  malice  seemed 
crowned  with  success ;  the  Saviour  was  in  his  toils, 
and  appeared  to  be  abandoned  to  his  fate  :  he  and  his 
cause  would  expire  in  ignominy  together ;  and  mer¬ 
cy  pierced  through  his  side,  and  chased  from  the 
world,  would  no  more  return,  but  would  henceforth 
relinquish  man  to  the  undisputed  scepter  of  hell. 

We  cannot  but  imagine  that  the  thrones  and  prin¬ 
cipalities  of  darkness  were  there  to  witness  the  tri¬ 
umph  ;  that,  flocking  together  from  the  east  and  west, 
the  north  and  south,  leaving  behind  them  many  an 
unfinished  plot  of  evil,  they  came  and  covered  the 
mount  to  celebrate  his  triumph.  And  could  heaven 
be  absent  ?  No,  the  angels  of  God,  incapable  of  re¬ 
pose  while  such  an  issue  was  pending,  quitted  their 
celestial  seats,  and  surrounded  the  scene  with  horses 
and  chariots  of  fire.  Stars  in  their  courses  might 
have  fought  during  that  hour,  and  have  been  unheed¬ 
ed.  It  was  more  than  an  era;  it  was  the  junction  of 
all  the  eras  of  time ;  the  event  of  that  hour  was  to 
determine,  whether  earth  should  pass  entirely  into 
the  hands  of  Satan,  or  be  again  recovered  into  the 
hand  of  God :  whether  the  expiring  rays  of  human 
hope  should  be  quite  extinguished  in  the  blood  of 
Christ,  leaving  the  earth  in  hopeless  night ;  or  wheth¬ 
er  his  cross  should  henceforth  radiate  light  and  life 
to  the  universe :  it  was  to  draw  to  a  close  the  great 
question,  to  terminate  the  comprehensive  controversy 
of  all  ages  between  right  and  wrong,  holiness  and 
sin.  Ilell  inflicted  the  decisive  stroke ;  the  shock 
was  received  and  sustained  by  the  heart  of  the  Son  of 
God.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the  powers  of 
darkness  perceive  their  error :  they  saw  with  unut¬ 
terable  dismay,  that  in  bowing  his  head  he  was  drag¬ 
ging  the  pillars  of  their  empire  to  the  dust ;  that  he 
was  dying  to  triumph  ;  that,  in  effect,  his  cross  was 
changing  into  a  throne.  He  exclaimed,  “  It  is  finish¬ 
ed  !”  and  the  gates  of  hell  vibrated  to  the  shout.  He 
entered  into  the  grave  for  a  short  space  ;  there  attir¬ 
ed  himself  in  the  robes  of  triumph,  came  forth  to  re- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


221 


ceive  the  gratukition  and  homage  of  angels  and  men  ; 
and  ascended  to  his  new  mediatorial  throne,  “  lead¬ 
ing  captivity  captive,  and  making  a  show  of  them 
openly.” 

It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  some  persons,  on 
comparing  this  statement  with  the  mofal  condition 
of  the  world,  may  be  tempted  to  think,  that,  if  the 
death  of  our  Lord  is  to  be  viewed  as  a  triumph  over 
hell,  we  greatly  overrate  its  practical  results.  To 
such  a  suspicion  it  may  suffice  to  reply,  that  our  lan¬ 
guage  is  only  the  echo  of  scripture,  of  the  declara¬ 
tions  of  Christ  himself.  That,  “  we  see  not  yet  all 
things  put  under  him,”  we  readily  admit ;  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  Satanic  empire  has  not  yet  been 
even  summoned  in  his  name  ;  and  that  much  of  the 
kingdom  which  nominally  belongs  to  Christ  has  not 
really  transferred  its  allegiance  from  Satan,  are  facts 
we  deeply  deplore.  But,  first,  he  distinctly  predict¬ 
ed  this  prolonged  activity  and  power  of  the  enemy. 
A  consideration,  secondly,  which  should  induce  us  to 
credit  his  other  predictions  of  perfect  triumph  in  the 
end.  Especially  as,  in  the  third  place  we  recognize 
in  his  mediatorial  work,  all  the  essential  elements  of 
that  triumph ;  the  character  of  God,  which  Satan  had 
obscured,  made  more  illustrious  than  before ;  the 
most  affecting  and  decisive  proof  that  God,  in 
punishing  sin,  is  perfectly  just  and  infinitely  good  ;  the 
dignity  and  happiness  of  the  creature,  which  Satan 
had  placed  in  revolt,  not  only  consisting  with  a  state 
of  subjection  to  God,  but  depending  on  it ;  divinity 
and  humanity,  which  Satan  had  traduced  and  repre¬ 
sented  as  antagonist  natures,  brought  into  the  close 
embrace  and  union  of  one  person  ;  the  forgiveness 
of  sin,  which  the  enemy  supposed  incompatible  with 
the  divine  rectitude  made  more  compatible  with  that 
rectitude  than  even  the  punishment  of  sin  would  be  ; 
new  incentives  to  holiness,  and  an  infinite  augmen¬ 
tation  of  eveiy  previous  motive  to  resist  sin ; 
and  to  crown  all,  the  almighty  agency  of  the  Iloly 
Spirit,  to  expel  from  the  heart  “  the  strong  man  arm- 
19* 


222 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ed,”  and  to  enthrone  in  his  stead,  “a  stronger  than 
he.”  And,  fourthly,  it  appears  that,  wherever  these 
elements  of  triumph  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  hu¬ 
man  heart,  they  infallibly  achieve  success ;  demon¬ 
strating  the  glorious  superiority  of  Christ  to  “  all  the 
power  of  the  enemy.” 

The  church  which  he  has  formed  has  been  reared 
in  the  immediate  presence  of  hell  in  arms ;  every 
member  belonging  to  it  is  a  vassal  rescued  from 
sin ;  many  of  them  were  once  even  the  pillars  of 
that  empire.  As  the  spiritual  erection  has  proceed¬ 
ed,  it  has  been  approached  by  stratagem,  and  belea- 
gured  in  form  ;  but  it  is  “  built  on  a  rock,  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.”  When  the  sev¬ 
enty  returned  to  him,  saying,  “  Even  the  devils  are 
subject  to  us  through  thy  name,”  he  received  the  an¬ 
nouncement  as  matter  of  course  ;  his  eye  had  follow¬ 
ed  them  wherever  they  had  gone  ;  and,  surveying  fu¬ 
turity  as  already  present,  had  beheld  in  their  success 
the  earnest  of  a  triumph  in  which  “  Satan  shall  fall 
like  lightning  from  heaven  ;”  looking  through  all  the 
intermediate  clouds  and  storms  of  time,  he  gazed 
complacently,  as  in  sceptered  state  on  the  serene  at¬ 
mosphere  of  the  world,  purged  of  all  its  evil  ele¬ 
ments,  and  fit  to  be  breathed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven.  When  surrounded  by  circumstances  of  the 
deepest  depression,  he  said,  with  the  calm  confidence 
of  majesty  enthroned  with  all  its  rivals  at  its  feet, 
“  The  prince  of  this  world  is  judged,”  “  Now  shall  he 
be  cast  out.”  Even  then  he  saw,  in  perspective,  the 
completion  of  his  triumph  and  beyond:  his  prophe¬ 
tic  ear,  even  then,  caught  the  distant  shout  of  his  re¬ 
redeemed  church.  He  knew,  that  when  he  should 
exclaim,  “  It  is  finished,”  the  powers  of  darkness 
would  hear  in  that  cry,  the  knell  of  their  empire  ; 
that  when  his  name  should  be  shouted  from  land  to 
land,  as  the  watchword  of  salvation,  its  every  echo 
should  shake  and  bring  down  the  fabrics  of  that  em¬ 
pire. 

And  now  it  is  finished,  the  work  of  redemption  is 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


223 


completed  ;  all  that  remains  for  him  to  do,  is  perfect¬ 
ly  compatible  with  a  state  of  rest ;  “  from  hence¬ 
forth  he  is  expecting  till  his  enemies  be  made  his 
footstool.”  Having  fought  the  battle,  he  hasylispatch- 
ed  his  subjects  to  pursue  the  enemy,  to  win  the  vic¬ 
tory,  and  collect  the  spoils.  As  long,  indeed,  as  this 
remains  unaccomplished,  he  will  not  consider  his  of¬ 
fice  fulfilled,  or  his  reward  complete.  As  long  as  a 
single  principle  of  evil  continues  at  large,  the  uni¬ 
verse  is  threatened,  the  safety  and  peace  of  the  Sav¬ 
iour’s  empire  are  liable  to  invasion  and  revolt;  “he 
must  reign,  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his 
feet.”  Nor,  till  then,  will  his  kingdom  be  in  a  state 
to  be  “delivered  up  to  God,  even  che  Father;”  he 
has  undertaken,  expressly,  to  “  gather  out  of  it  all 
things  that  offend,  and  them  that  do  iniquity ;”  to 
restore  it  to  a  state  of  purity  and  perfection  worthy 
to  be  known  as  the  work  of  his  hands  ;  fit  to  be  ac¬ 
cepted,  and  instated  again,  as  an  integral  part  of  his 
dominions,  “  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  in¬ 
iquity.”  And,  as  he  sits  enthroned,  with  all  power  in 
his  arm,  it  is  true,  that  to  him,  even  now ,  is  the  prince 
of  this  world  cast  out,  and  the  last  enemy  destroyed. 
He  beholds  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  already 
in  flight ;  followed  in  disorder  by  the  routed  remains 
of  his  once  gorgeous  and  imperial  state  ;  throues, 
dominations,  and  powers ;  the  tyranny  of  six  thou¬ 
sand  years  ;  sailing  through  the  air,  and  fading  from 
the  view;  he  looks  upon  the  world,  his  own  world, 
subdued  by  love,  exorcised  of  every  element  and 
atom  of  evil ;  another  heaven  ;  catching,  and  reflect¬ 
ing,  and  multiplying  his  own  image,  and  God  is  all  in 
alf. 

And  here  we  should  quit  the  subject,  did  we  not 
suspect  that  certain  inquiries  have  been  suggested  in 
the  course  of  the  essay,  some  of  which,  if  left  unno¬ 
ticed,  might  impair  the  salutary  effect  which  it  might 
otherwise  produce,  and  all  of  which  admit  of  a  prac¬ 
tical  application. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  beings  of  whom  we 


224  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

are  speaking,  we  only  know  that  they  are  spirits  ;  by 
which,  probably,  all  that  is  meant  is, — not  that  they 
are  absolutely  unembodied,  to  be  only  spirit  is  most 
likely  peculiar  to  God  alone  ;  but  that  they  are  ex¬ 
empt  from  the  gross  ihateriality  of  bodies  like  our 
own.  By  calling  them  spirits,  our  Lord  would  prob¬ 
ably  remind  us  of  the  facility  with  which  they  obtain 
access  to  our  minds,  and  would  put  us  on  our  guard 
against  the  subtlety  of  our  operations.  The  circum¬ 
stance  that  we  are  ignorant  of  the  way  in  which  they 
reach  our  mind,  is  no  objection  whatever  to  the  doc¬ 
trine  that  they  do  reach  it ;  our  incapability  of  trac¬ 
ing  many  of  our  sensible  impressions  beyond  the 
mere  sensation  itself,  leaves  the  fact  of  such  impres¬ 
sions  unquestioned.  Besides,  a  priori,  we  should 
have  thought  it  more  unlikely  that  matter  should  act 
upon  mind,  that  material  objects  should  act  on  that 
Avhich  seems  to  have  no  property  in  common  with 
them,  than  that  mind  should  act  upon  mind,  two 
homogeneous  substances  on  each  other.  Yetjexperi- 
ence  tells  us,  that  the  former  action  is  always  going 
on  in  the  process  of  our  mental  perceptions  ;  and 
the  latter  we  presume,  is  all  that  is  meant,  physical¬ 
ly,  by  Satanic  agency  ;  of  which  indeed  a  counter¬ 
part  and  illustration  is  to  be  found,  in  the  action  of 
one  human  mind  upon  another. 

Nor  is  the  doctrine  invalidated  by  the  objection, 
that  we  are  unconscious  of  such  extraneous  influ¬ 
ence  ;  this  only  shows  the  facility  with  which  the 
Tempter  acts,  and  is  the  triumph  of  his  art.  He  so 
times  and  modulates  his  whispers,  that  we  mistake 
them  for  the  voice  of  our  own  thoughts  ;  so  conceals 
his  agency,  that  while  we  fancy  we  are  sailing  be¬ 
fore  the  impulse,  and  floating  down  the  stream  of 
our  own  free  volitions,  his  hand  is  on  the  helm  ;  thus 
flattering  our  pride,  scoffing  at  our  weakness,  and 
steering  our  destiny  at  the  same  time.  VVe  our¬ 
selves  suppose  that  there  is  an  established  order  in 
which  our  thoughts  succeed  each  other ;  that,  detach¬ 
ed  and  promiscuous  as  they  appear  to  be,  they  are 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


225 


linked  together  with  all  the  strength  and  sequence  of 
a  chain,  and  the  principle  which  thus  unites  them  we 
call  the  principle  of  suggestion,  the  law  of  associa¬ 
tion.  Now,  admitting  the  existence  of  such  a  law,  a 
law  common  to  all  minds,  like  gravity  to  all  matter ; 
operating  by  mental  affinity  and  attraction — it  is  on¬ 
ly  to  suppose  that  Satan  has  mastered  this  prin¬ 
ciple  ;  that  the  result  of  the  experience  of  many 
thousand  years,  in  studying  the  structure,  watching 
the  movements,  and  experimenting  on  the  proper¬ 
ties  of  mind  is,  that  he  knows  the  universal  bearing 
and  operation  of  this  principle  ;  and  what  a  fearful 
amount  of  power,  what  an  immense  command  over 
the  human  mind,  may  he  possess  in  the  knowledge 
of  this  principle  alone. 

But  whatever  the  grand  secret  of  his  dreadful  art 
may  be,  the  strongest  language  is  but  barely  equal  to 
express  the  reality  of  the  power  which  he  wields  over 
the  mind.  He  is  represented  as  actually  “  entering 
into  the  heart;”  becoming  the  gloomy  and  fearful 
inmate  of  the  soul ;  mingling  his  very  essence 
with  the  being  of  a  sinner.  “  Get  thee  behind  me 
Satan,”  said  Christ  to  Peter,  when  that  apostle  acted 
the  part  of  the  Tempter.  And  “  one  of  you,”  said 
he,  when  speaking  of  the  traitor,  “  one  of  you  is  a 
devil.”  Evil  is  no  doubt,  at  times,  attributed  to  Sa¬ 
tan,  not  because  he  has  directly  produced  it,  but  be¬ 
cause  he  loves  it ;  and  those  who  have  wrought  it 
have  imbibed  his  spirit,  and  are  employed  in  his  ser¬ 
vice  ;  such  therefore,  may  appropriately  take  their 
name  from  him,  from  whom  they  have  derived  their 
nature. 

To  excite  our  most  solicitous  avoidance  of  the 
enemy,  as  well  as  to  describe  his  nature,  he  is  re¬ 
peatedly  called,  by  Christ,  an  unclean  spirit.  It 
is  not  every  unclean  thing  that  offends  the  sight, 
while  the  slightest  stain  upon  some  things  will  ex¬ 
cite  in  us  deep  dislike  ;  the  feeling  depends  entirely 
on  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  purpose -to  which 
it  is  applied.  We  pass  by  an  unclean  stone  unnotic- 


226 


TIIE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ed  ;  it  is  unconscious  of  its  state,  and  was  meant  to 
be  trampled  under  foot.  But,  rising  a  step  higher  in 
the  scale  of  creation,  to  an  unclean  plant,  we  become 
conscious  of  a  slight  emotion  of  dislike;  because  we 
see  that  which  might  have  pleased  the  eye,  and  have 
beautified  a  spot  in  the  creation,  disfigured  and  use¬ 
less.  An  unclean  animal  excites  our  dislike  yet 
more  ;  for,  instead  of  proving  useful  in  any  way,  it  is 
merely  a  moving  pollution.  But  an  unclean  human 
being  excites  our  lothing  more  than  all :  it  presents 
our  nature  in  a  light  so  disgusting,  than  it  lessens 
our  pity  for  him,  if  he  be  miserable,  and  excites  in 
us  ideas  of  disease,  contamination,  and  pain.  But 
an  unclean  spirit ! — it  is  lotbsome  above  all  things; 
it  is  the  soul  and  essence  of  pollution  ;  it  is  the  uu- 
cleauest  object  in  the  universe ;  it  is  a  spectacle 
which  excites  the  deep  dislike  of  God  himself.  Ilis 
dislike  of  it  is  all  the  more  intense,  because,  original¬ 
ly,  it  was  pure,  and  capable  of  making  perpetual  ad¬ 
vances  towards  divine  perfection  ;  whereas,  now,  it 
presents  itself  to  his  eye,  robbed  of  all  its  purity,  and 
defiled  in  all  its  powers,  a  fountain  of  pollution.  It 
is  so  utterly  unfit  for  its  original  employment  and 
state,  that  the  pure  and  holy  God  has  no  alternative, 
but  to  banish  it  from  his  presence  as  a  spiritual  nui¬ 
sance,  and  to  consign  it  to  the  place  which  he  has 
reserved  “  for  every  thing  that  defileth.”  To  yield  to 
temptation,  then,  is  to  put  ourselves  into  the  hands 
of  him  with  whom  contact  is  contamination  :  it  is  to 
receive  into  the  center  of  our  being  the  great  spirit 
of  uncleanness ;  and  to  let  our  own  spirits  be  de¬ 
graded  into  the  sink  of  essential  pollution.  How  un¬ 
speakably  precious  to  the  sinner,  sensible  of  his  in¬ 
grained  defilement,  is  “  the  fountain  opened  for  sin 
and  uncleanness.” 

“  When  the  unclean  spirit  has  gone  out  of  a  man, 
he  walketh  through  dry  places,  seeking  rest,  and 
findeth  none.  Then  he  saith,  I  will  return  into  my 
bouse  from  whence  I  came  out ;  and  when  he  is 
come,  he  findeth  it  empty,  swept  and  garnished. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


227 


Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  with  himself  seven  other 
spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in 
and  dwell  there ;  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is 
worse  than  the  first.”  This  awful  picture  of  demo¬ 
niacal  possession,  is  expressly  stated,  by  Christ,  to  be 
a  parabolical  representation  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
But  its  applicability  to  a  nation,  warrants  the  pro¬ 
priety  of  applying  it  to  certain  states  of  the  individ¬ 
ual  sinner.  And  what  an  affecting  view  does  it  pre¬ 
sent  of  the  untiring,  encroaching,  all-engrossing 
power  of  the  enemy !  how  solemnly  does  it  warn  us 
to  resist  his  first  approaches !  Having  obtained  a 
lodgment  in  the  heart  of  the  ungodly,  he  consults 
their  vicious  taste,  panders  to  their  depraved  appe- 
tities,  and  thus  seeks  to  make  himself  necessary  to 
their  peace.  In  the  sin  which  most  easily  besets 
them  he  finds  his  power,  and  a  convenient  avenue 
by  which  he  can  always  command  an  entrance  and 
a  welcome  to  the  inmost  chambers  of  their  souls. 
They  arise  in  the  morning,  without  being  able  to  say 
whether  he  will  have  gained  a  fresh  triumph  over 
them  before  night  or  not :  they  have  so  often  yield¬ 
ed,  that  they  feel  it  will  only  depend  on  whether 
they  are  tempted  or  not :  if  he  comes  in  the  shape 
of  their  favorite  sin,  they  will  surrender  again  as  a 
matter  of  course.  They  perceive,  indeed,  some  of 
the  evil  consequences  which  will  attend  it ;  they 
dread  his  approach  ;  they  forsee  that  it  will  occasion 
them  anguish  afterwards ;  but  he  has  only  to  appear 
in  the  form  of  the  tyrant  sin,  and  they  throw  them¬ 
selves  prostrate  at  his  feet,  while  he  casts  his  chain 
around  them  once  more.  From  the  moment  he 
achieves  his  first  triumph,  he  seeks  to  make  the 
heart  “his  house  till,  having  transmuted  it  into  his 
own  nature,  though  lie  should  go  through  the  whole 
world  seeking  rest,  he  would  find  none  so  congenial 
as  that  human  house.  Circumstances  may  occur 
which  may  induce  him  for  a  time  to  quit  his  resi¬ 
dence.  But  if  during  that  interval  divine  graee 
does  not  seize  the  throne  of  the  heart,  it  will  again 


228 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


be  reclaimed,  and  re-entered  with  a  large  reinforce¬ 
ment  of  the  enemy,  and  held  with  a  seven-fold  pow¬ 
er.  He  will  patiently  wait,  if  necessary,  till  they 
have  outlived  the  alarm  which  led  to  his  withdraw- 
ment ;  wait  till  they  have  passed  through  every  down¬ 
ward  stage  of  fear,  doubt,  indifference,  obduracy,  en¬ 
mity  ;  wait  for  years  till  he  is  again  solicited  to  re¬ 
turn  and  resume  his  power.  Then  does  he  avenge 
his  temporary  expulsion  with  fearful  rigor.  Every 
faculty  of  the  mind  is  entered  and  possessed.  The 
serpent  sin  coils  around  the  heart,  and  infixes  his 
fangs,  with  a  power  which  threatens  never  to  un¬ 
loose. 

Are  we  disposed  to  entertain  hard  thoughts  of  that 
arrangement  of  the  divine  government  which  per¬ 
mits  our  exposure  to  satanic  wiles  P  It  should  be 
enough  for  us  to  remember  that  God  will  finally 
justify,  not  only  this,  but  all  his  ways  to  man.  This 
arrangement,  however,  is  only  part  of  that  all-encir¬ 
cling  mystery — the  origin  of  evil — so  that  to  notice  it 
here  would  be  gratuitously  to  misplace  it.  We  will 
only  suggest,  therefore,  in  passing,  that  the  divine 
Being,  in  not  preventing  satanic  temptation  by  the 
arbitrary  exercise  of  power,  is  only  acting  consistent¬ 
ly  with  the  requirements  of  a  moral  government ;  a 
government  which  opposes  principle  by  principle, 
and  not  by  physical  force  or  coercion  ;  that,  as  the 
virtue  of  good  men  finds  an  appropriate  sphere  for 
action,  and  is  improved,  by  resisting  the  influence  of 
the  wicked,  so  it  is  highly  probable  the  excellence  of 
the  holy  angels  is  exercised  and  advanced  by  their 
efforts  to  counteract  the  powers  of  evil ;  that  the  Al¬ 
mighty  may  be  considered  as  doing  every  thing  ne¬ 
cessary  to  vindicate  his  benevolence,  by  counterba¬ 
lancing  the  agency  of  the  evil,  by  the  activity  of  his 
holy  angels ;  while,  in  superadding  to  their  activity 
in  our  behalf,  the  omnipotent  aid  of  his  Holy  Spirit, 
he  is  greatly  magnifying  his  grace  ;  that,  in  securing 
the  final  triumph  of  that  kingdom  which  embraces 
all  the  elements  of  moral  good  over  that  which  com- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


229 


prehends  every  thing  of  evil,  he  is  entitling  himself 
to  an  infinite  revenue  of  glory ;  and,  finally,  that  a 
principal  ingredient  in  the  happiness  of  the  redeem¬ 
ed,  will  result  from  a  clear  and  comprehensive  sur¬ 
vey  of  those  tremendous  powers  of  evil  over  which 
they  will  have  triumphed. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
in  no  instance  in  which  Satan  acquires  dominion 
over  the  sinner  does  he  obtain  it  by  force  ;  the  means 
which  he  employs  are  perfectly  compatible  with  hu¬ 
man  freedom  ;  so  that  the  surrender  of  the  sinner  is 
voluntary,  he  sells  himself  to  work  iniquity.  If  the 
enemy  sow  tares  in  the  field  of  the  church,  or  of  the 
individual  mind,  it  is  done  “while  men  sleep;”  if  he 
“  cometh,  and  catcheth  away  the  good  seed  sown  in 
the  heart,”  it  is  when  the  subject  of  it  “  understand- 
eth  it  not ;”  does  not  lay  his  mind  to  it ;  or,  if  he  re¬ 
enters  the  soul,  after  a  transient  absence,  with  seven¬ 
fold  strength,  it  is  only  when  “he  finds  his  house 
empty,  swept,  and  garnished,”  to  welcome  his  return. 
The  sole  secret  of  his  power  over  us,  is  to  be  found 
in  our  own  depravity  ;  the  soul  may  be  “  set  on  fire 
of  hell,”  the  live  coal  may  be  brought  from  the  infer¬ 
nal  fires,  but  the  combustible  materials  were  al¬ 
ready  collected  and  laid  in  the  depraved  soul.  And, 
accordingly,  though  our  depravity  is  frequently  as¬ 
cribed  to  “  the  wicked  one,”  yet  his  agency  is  never 
alleged  as  an  excuse  for  our  sinfulness,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  as  its  last  aggravation. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  the  days  of  the 
reign  of  Satan  are  numbered  :  the  chain  which  is  to 
bind  him  is  forged,  and  the  fires  which  shall  encir¬ 
cle  him  are  already  kindled,  “  the  breath  of  the 
Lord  like  a  stream  of  brimstone  hath  kindled  them.” 
And  the  day  is  appointed  when  they  who  have  lived 
his  willing  slaves  shall  find  themselves  involved  in 
the  coils  of  the  same  chain,  and  enveloped  in  the 
same  penal  fires.  The  Judge  of  all  “  shall  say  unto 
them  on  his  left  hand,  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  ever¬ 
lasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.” 

20 


230 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Those  who  have  tempted,  and  they  who  have  em¬ 
braced  temptation,  are  the  two  classes  which  com¬ 
prise  all  the  pollution  in  the  universe ;  as  such,  the 
besom  of  destruction  shall  sweep  them  together  into 
one  place ;  as  the  refuse  of  sin,  the  nuisance  and 
leavings  of  the  creation,  Gehenna,  the  receptacle  of 
all  the  elements  of  pollution,  shall  enlarge  its  capa¬ 
cious  bosom  to  receive  them  ;  where,  as  the  appro¬ 
priate  fuel  of  almighty  wrath,  they  shall  “  burn  to¬ 
gether,  and  none  shall  quench  them.” 


SECTION  VI. — OF  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  ) 
RESURRECTION  OF  THE  BODY. 

“I  am  the  resurrection  and  Ibe  life.” 

That  question  in  religion  which  takes  precedence 
of  every  other;  the  existence  of  God  excepted;  and 
which  gives  character  and  importance  to  them  all,  is 
the  ancient  inquiry,  entailed  with  unabated  interest 
on  each  succeeding  generation,  “  If  a  man  die,  shall 
he  live  again  ?”  Independent  of  revelation — if  in¬ 
deed  any  of  the  human  race  have  ever  been  quite  in¬ 
dependent  of  it — men  have  generally  anticipated  a 
future  existence,  as  a  doctrine  harmonizing  with 
their  desires  and  wants,  and  with  the  character  of  a 
righteous  moral  governor.  The  instinctive  horror 
with  which  the  soul  recoils  from  the  thought  of  an¬ 
nihilation  ;  its  ardent  longing  after  a  perpetuity  of 
life,  and  its  strong  presentiment  of  it  ;  its  constant 
progress  in  knowledge  and  power  up  to  the  moment 
of  death  ;  its  capability  of  abstracting  itself  from 
this  world,  and  conceiving  of  universal  natures,  and 
nobler  states  of  being ;  the  prodigality  with  which  it 
lavishes  its  great  powers  on  unworthy  objects,  owing 
to  the  inadequacy  of  every  thing  earthly  to  engage 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


231 


them  ;  the  necessity  of  the  hope  of  immortality  to 
develop  and  give  scope  to  its  latent  powers ;  and 
the  principles  and  design  of  a  moral  government,  in 
punishing  sin  and  rewarding  virtue  ;  these  consider¬ 
ations  are  so  many  steps  by  which  men  have  emerg¬ 
ed  from  the  sepulcher,  ascended  the  throne,  and,  in 
hope,  seized  the  crown  of  immortality.  Now  through¬ 
out  the  kingdom  of  animated  nature,  wherever  an  or¬ 
gan  or  faculty  is  to  exist  characteristic  of  the  species 
to  which  it  belongs,  a  kind  of  pre-assurance  is  given, 
a  practical  anticipation  that  it  will,  by  and  by,  be  de¬ 
veloped  ;  nor  is  this  prophecy  ever  falsified.  The 
most  perfect  human  being  is,  at  best,  in  this  world, 
nothing  more  than  an  unfinished  sketch  ot  humani¬ 
ty  ;  a  creature  full  of  these  pre-assurances  and  antic¬ 
ipations  of  future  development,  and  final  perfection  : 
unless,  then,  his  instincts  and  essential  principles  are 
a  splendid  falsehood ;  unless  the  divine  signatures 
impressed  on  his  nature  be  a  forgery,  a  grave  impos¬ 
ture  ;  unless  humanity  itself  be  a  lie,  a  deep-laid  con¬ 
spiracy  against  all  right  and  happiness,  we  are  war¬ 
ranted  in  the  hope  of  immortality.  Under  the  gov¬ 
ernment  of  a  righteous  Being,  we  naturally  look  for 
an  illustration  of  his  character  in  his  works  ;  we 
ponder  the  volume  of  nature,  and  find  it  to  contain 
one  vast  and  compacted  argument  for  the  divine 
perfections  ;  but  deny  to  man  a  future  existence,  and 
the  argument  is  flawed,  and  the  character  of  God, 
which  it  professes  to  vindicate,  stands  impeached. 

We,  however,  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the  gospel, 
are  liable  to  over-rate  the  argument  derived  from  na¬ 
ture,  aud  to  forget  that,  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death,  nothing  short  of  a  divine 
revelation  can  give  to  the  hope  of  immortality  stabil¬ 
ity  and  repose!  For,  in  that  consciousness  of  guilt 
which  is  common  to  all  mankind,  a  suspicion  arises 
in  the  mind  that  the  natural  course  and  order  of 
things  have  been  deranged,  a  shadow  of  uncertainty 
comes  over  our  best  reasoned  speculations,  and  we 
feel  at  a  loss  to  say  what  course  the  king  of  a  bound- 


232 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


less  empire  may  see  fit  to  pursue  towards  the  rebel¬ 
lious  subjects  of  an  insignificant  province.  Here  the 
opinions  of  a  Socrates  and  a  Plato,  of  a  Cicero  and  a 
Seneca,  though  often  quoted,  are  only,  at  best,  the 
conflicting  conjectures  of  minds  alternating  between 
hope  and  fear.  They  beheld,  with  dismay,  the  hu¬ 
man  race  walking  in  gloomy  procession  to  the  grave  : 
and,  as  they  saw  them  disappear  in  the  land  of  sha¬ 
dows,  they  sought,  with  strained  and  untiring  gaze, 
to  follow  their  steps  and  learn  their  fate  ;  and  had 
not  revelation  come  to  our  aid,  their  opinions  would 
have  deserved  respect,  and  would  have  often  passed 
the  lips  of  the  dying  in  the  stead  of  truths.  But  they 
themselves  were  conscious  of  distressing  doubt : 
while,  at  one  time,  they  spoke  as  from  the  skies  ;  at 
another,  they  uttered  the  language  of  the  sepulcher ; 
according  as  hope  or  fear  was  the  oracle  of  the  mo¬ 
ment. 

Revelation  authenticates  the  hope,  and  fulfills  the 
obscure  predictions,  of  this  great  instinct  of  human¬ 
ity — an  endless  existence.  It  did  so,  partially,  under 
the  Jewish  dispensation  :  at  one  time,  darkly  hinting 
the  doctrine,  to  magnify  the  hopes  or  fears  of  men  ; 
and,  at  another,  portraying  it  in  definite  forms,  to 
engage  their  faith :  now,  dispatching  a  messenger 
from  the  unseen  world  ;  and,  now,  clothing  a  pro¬ 
phet  with  the  terrors  of  an  unearthly  visitant,  and 
planting  him  in  their  way  to  bring  them  to  a  stand, 
by  warning  them  of  a  fearful  something  beyond. 
But  the  light  which  it  held  over  the  sepulcher  flick¬ 
ered,  did  not  burn  so  strong,  but  that  it  might  have 
been  extinguished  by  the  deadly  vapors  of  the  tomb  ; 
and  hence,  the  views  of  its  disciples  wavered  also  ; 
sometimes  speaking  in  tones  of  depression,  as  if 
their  whole  horizon  were  the  walls  of  a  charnel- 
house  ;  at  other  times  by  a  kind  of  lofty  divination 
peculiar  to  the  wise  and  the  good  of  every  age,  (for 
every  good  man  is,  in  a  sense,  a  prophet,)  making 
near  approaches  to  the  truth ;  anticipating  revela¬ 
tions  reserved  for  after  times:  and  then,  again,  seiz- 


1113  ORIGINALITY. 


233 


ing  their  harp,  and  singing  their  triumphant  song,  as 
if  their  immortality  had  already  begun. 

But  the  full  revelation  and  proof  of  the  doctrine  of 
a  future  state  were  reserved  to  grace  the  mission  of 
him  who,  in  his  own  person,  is  “the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life.”  We  do  not,  indeed,  conceive 
these  to  have  been  the  chief  or  specific  design  of  his 
advent ;  though  it  is  a  part  of  the  glory  of  that  design 
that  it  includes  them:  “he  hath  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light  by  the  gospel.”  If  he  found 
them  problems,  he  left  them  axioms  ;  promoted  them 
to  the  rank  of  postulates  in  his  system  of  truth  ;  made 
them  the  basis  of  the  whole  Christian  fabric.  Hea¬ 
then  philosophy  halted  at  the  grave  ;  ancient  revela¬ 
tion  accompanied  its  disciples  a  little  beyond,  con¬ 
ducting  them  into  Slieol,  Hades,  the  unknown  state  ; 
Christianity  comes  to  our  aid  in  the  very  moment  of 
desertion,  stands  to  receive  us  at  the  very  place  of 
parting  with  every  other  religion,  graciously  ap¬ 
proaches  and  offers  its  guidance  up  to  the  throne  of 
God.  If,  prior  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  the  doctrine 
of  immortality  was  undefined  and  unsubstantial ;  if, 
like  the  spectral  phantom  of  Eliphaz,  the  believer 
could  only  say  of  it,  “  It  passed  before  my  face  ;  it 
stood  still ;  but  I  could  not  discern  the  form  there¬ 
of;”  he  may  be  said  to  have  embodied  the  truth,  to 
have  fashioned  and  impersonated  it  in  his  own  glori¬ 
ous  body.  Having  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the 
sepulcher  of  human  hope,  he  invites  us  to  look  in  ; 
and  instead  of  the  dust,  and  darkness,  and  lothsom- 
ness  proper  to  the  grave,  we  behold  tire  “linen 
clothes  lying  by  themselves” — the  apparel  of  the 
prison-house  vacated  and  left — and  angels  in  white, 
sitting  to  re-assure  our  hope,  and  point  us  to  tho 
skies. 

I.  In  naming  the  most  original  features  of  our 
Lord’s  teaching  on  this  subject,  the  first,  in  order,  is 
the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state.  Pre-supposing 
the  immateriality  and  immortality  of  the  soul,  he 
frequently  employed  language  which  denotes  the 
20* 


234 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


active  existence  of  the  soul  between  death  and  the 
resurrection.  “Fear  not  them,”  said  Christ  to  his 
disciples  ;  “  fear  not  them  who  kill  the  body,  but  are 
not  able  to  kill  the  soul.”  Then  the  soul  and  the 
body  are  distinct  existences  :  the  body  may  be  slain, 
and  yet  the  soul  escape.  But  insensibility  would  be 
virtual  destruction  to  the  soul ;  for  we  cannot  con¬ 
ceive  how  a  thinking  being  can  be  more  destroyed 
than  by  losing  the  power  of  thought ;  then  the  soul 
will  not  cease  to  think.  But  the  only  reason,  why 
the  soul  is  indestructible  by  man,  must  be  its  imma¬ 
teriality  ;  the  body  he  can  destroy,  for  that  is  materi¬ 
al  ;  and  if  the  soul  resulted  from  any  subtilization, 
juxtaposition,  or  combinations  of  brute  atoms,  that 
could  be  apprehended,  burnt,  divided,  exhausted, 
exploded,  destroyed  also.  But,  no,  saith  Christ,  “  it 
is  not  destructible  by  man.”  The  suicide  has  no 
weapon  with  which  he  can  reach  his  soul.  Perse¬ 
cution,  though  it  has  taxed  its  ingenuity  to  the  utmost, 
and  has  called  in  the  inventive  aid  of  him  who  is  a 
murderer  from  the  beginning,  has  failed  to  devise 
any  instrument  with  which  it  could  seize  and  tor¬ 
ment  the  soul ;  has  felt  and  inwardly  cursed  its 
impotence,  that,  in  consuming  the  body  of  its  victim, 
it  was  actually  releasing  the  immortal  soul.  The 
soul  has  nothing  to  do  with  death  ;  if  persecution 
will  have  the  body,  the  soul  surrenders  it,  leaves  it 
behind,  drops  it  in  the  grave,  and  passes  on  to  im¬ 
mortality.  Indeed,  had  the  contrary  sentiment  pre¬ 
vailed,  there  is  reason  to  conclude  that  Christiani¬ 
ty  would  have  had  a  much  smaller  number  of  mar¬ 
tyrs  to  boast ;  they  would  have  shrunk  from  death, 
not  to  avoid  the  physical  suffering,  but  the  loss  they 
were  called  to  sustain,  the  dreary  suspension  of  all 
the  enjoyments  the  gospel  had  brought  them  ;  that 
would  have  given  to  death  a  new  sting.  But  the 
fearful  apprehension  never  seems  to  have  visited 
their  minds.  A  primary  article  in  their  martyr-creed 
was  this:  “Absent  from  the  body,  present  with  the 
Lord.”  They  felt  that  their  noblest  life  had  its  root 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


235 


in  heaven  ;  that  their  spiritual  existence  was  “  hid 
with  Christ  in  God was  seated  high  up,  beyond 
reach,  in  the  very  fountain  and  summit  of  creation. 
At  thought  of  this,  the  apparatus  of  death  became 
consecrated  in  their  eyes,  as  the  means  of  their  ad¬ 
mission  to  his  presence  ;  the  instruments  of  torture 
glowed  with  a  glory  reflected  from  his  throne ;  the 
flames  were  chariots  of  fire  to  convey  them  in  tri¬ 
umph  to  their  appointed  thrones. 

The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  existence  is  re¬ 
cognized  by  Christ,  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man 
and  Lazarus ;  where  we  learn  that  the  former, 
dying,  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torment ;  while 
the  latter  was  straightway  conveyed,  by  angels,  to 
Abraham’s  bosom.  Spirits  are  evoked  by  Christ, 
from  heaven  and  hell,  to  attest  an  intermediate  state. 
He  would  have  us  to  read  the  doctrine  by  the  lurid 
glare  of  infernal  flames,  and  by  the  radiance  of  a  ce¬ 
lestial  vision.  He  taught  it  also  in  the  light  which 
he  flashed  on  the  divine  declaration,  “  I  am  the  God 
of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob:”  “God,”  said  he,  “  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living.”  The  Almighty  had  uttered  this 
three  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Abraham : 
now,  whatever  relation  he  may  sustain  to  the  lifeless 
body,  and  to  the  inanimate  creation  at  large,  he  can 
only  be  said  to  be  a  God  to  the  living  soul.  On  the 
former,  he  can  only  bring  to  bear  his  natural  attri¬ 
butes,  can  only  exercise  mechanical  power ;  while, 
on  the  latter,  he  can  turn  the  full  aspect  of  his  moral 
perfections,  can  bring  his  transcendental  attributes, 
the  peculiar  glory  of  his  character,  can  bring  all  his 
nature  into  active  communication  with  theirs.  What¬ 
ever  he  may  do  to  mere  matter,  he  does  to  an  uncon¬ 
scious  object,  to  a  thing  which  can  return  him  no 
look  of  gratitude,  no  expression  of  affection ;  while 
the  soul  finds  its  heaven  in  his  smile,  and  he  beholds 
the  reflection  of  his  image  in  its  face.  Wherefore, 
“  he  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  its  God  by  which 
we  are  to  understand  that  he  glories  to  be  called  so  ; 


230 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


lie  tells  it  to  the  universe ;  boasts  of  the  relationship  ; 
is  willing  to  be  judged  of  by  his  treatment  of  his 
spiritual  offspring ;  is  prepared  to  rest  his  claims  to 
universal  homage  on  the  glorious  provision  to  which 
he  brings  them  to  heaven  ;  is  so  satisfied  with  that 
illustration  of  his  excellence  which  he  beholds  in  the 
present  condition  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect,  that,  could  we  see  their  blessedness,  he 
would  be  content  to  be  known  only  as  their  God ; 
and,  accordingly,  one  of  the  titles  which  he  has 
adopted,  and  graven  on  his  crown  of  light,  informs 
us  that  he  is  “  the  Father  of  spirits.” 

Another  declaration  of  Christ,  to  the  same  import, 
is  his  memorable  reply  to  the  expiring  malefactor, 
“  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  to  day  shalt  thou  be  with 
me  in  paradise.”  The  sense  of  this  passage  has  been 
made  by  some,  indeed,  to  turn  on  a  question  of  punc¬ 
tuation.  But  receiving  it  in  its  general  acceptation  ; 
the  only  acceptation,  we  apprehend,  which  common 
sense  will  ratify ;  we  learn  from  it  the  capability  of 
the  soul  to  exist  independently  of  the  body ;  the  in¬ 
stant  transition  of  the  soul,  at  death,  to  the  state 
adapted  to  its  moral  character;  and  the  fact,  that  it 
there  immediately  enters  on  its  endless  portion. 

II.  The  resurrection  of  the  body  was  a  dogma  al¬ 
ready  familiar  to  the  Jews;  but  this  doctrine  our 
Lord  illustrated,  amplified,  and  confirmed.  Aware 
that  it  formed  the  key-stone  of  Christianity,  he  may 
be  said  to  have  labored  out  the  proof  of  it,  till  he 
brought  it  to  demonstration.  “Ye  do  err,”  said  he, 
to  the  Sadducees,  who  denied  a  resurrection,  “  not 
knowing  the  scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God.” 
Here,  first,  lie  dismisses  the  question  of  its  possibili¬ 
ty  by  placing  it  at  once  in  the  hands  of  omnipotence. 
Secondly,  he  places  around  the  doctrine  a  guard  of 
divine  declarations ;  thus  reminding  us,  that  if  God 
had  said  the  dead  shall  be  raised,  the  event  is  as 
certain  as  if  it  had  already  occurred  and  become 
matter  of  history.  And,  thirdly,  he  alleges  as  a  rea¬ 
son  for  the  event,  the  relation  which  God  sustains  to 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


237 


his  people— “  he  is  their  God  and  is  bound,  there¬ 
fore,  by  a  pledge  voluntarily  given,  to  do  every  thing 
for  them  essential  to  their  well-being  :  but  the  resto¬ 
ration  of  their  bodies  is  essential  to  the  integrity  ot 
their  nature;  then  his  faithfulness  is  pledged  to  re¬ 
store  them.  Besides,  he  is  the  God  of  the  living  ; 
but  a  constituent  part  of  their  nature  is  held  in  cap¬ 
tivity  by  death,  then  to  vindicate  his  title  as  their 
God  he  must  effect  the  redemption  of  the  body,  and 
replenish  it,  in  common  with  the  soul,  with  immortal 
life  Agreeably  to  this  declaration,  the  Saviour  else¬ 
where  affirms,  “  This  is  the  Father’s  will  who  hath 
sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given  me,  I  should 
lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last 
day.”  He  was  commissioned  by  the  Father  to  ac¬ 
complish  the  work  of  redemption,  in  a  manner  wor¬ 
thy  of  him  whose  peculiar  distinction  it  is,  that  ms 
work  is  perfect.”  He  holds  himself  responsible, 
therefore,  for  the  re-production  of  the  bodies  of  all 
his  peonle  :  he  has  set  his  seal  upon  each  ol  their 
graves  ;  and,  of  all  that  he  holds  in  trust,  he  declares 
that  he  will  lose,  not  merely  not  one,  but  “  nothing 
— not  a  fraction,  not  a  particle  essential  to  one  of  t  ie 
bodies  of  his  saints.  During  the  short  period  that  he 
himself  remained  in  the  grave,  he  held  his  person 
dishonored  by  the  bondage  ;  and,  till  the  morning  of 
the  resurrection  arrive,  he  regards  his  people  as  dis¬ 
honored  :  the  completion  of  his  engagement,  and  the 
perfection  of  his  reward,  require  that,  “  of  all  which 
have  been  given  him  he  should  lose  nothing. 

But  our  Lord  did  not  limit  his  proof  of  a  resurrec¬ 
tion  to  words ;  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate  the 
truth  by  an  appeal  to  our  senses.  On  one  occasion, 
he  released  an  individual  whom  death  had  just  made 
his  prisoner.  On  another  occasion,  he  met  the  lung 
of  terrors  at  the  gate  of  a  city,  conveying  a  victim  to 
the  grave  ;  and  he  arrested  his  march,  and  reclaimed 
the  prey.  '  And,  on  a  third  time,  he  brought  Lazarus 
forth  from  the  grave,  who  had  been  dead  four  days. 
On  that  occassion,  he  had  intentionally  delayed  to 


238  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

interfere,  that  the  process  of  decomposition  might 
commence  ;  he  had  given  to  death  every  possible 
advantage  ;  he  had  voluntarily  kept  away,  till  death 
should  be  in  full  possession,  till  the  monster  had  not 
merely  seized  his  victim,  but  had  retired  with  him 
into  the  gloomy  dominions  of  the  grave,  till  he  had 
there  closed  and  barred  up  the  entrance,  and  fortifi¬ 
ed  himself,  as  in  a  strong  hold,  which  none  should 
dare  to  assail,  and  where  he  might  reign  secure.  But 
Jesus  summoned  the  citadel  of  death,  broke  open  the 
enclosure  of  the  grave,  and  with  a  voice  which  com¬ 
pelled  submission,  demanded,  and  restored  to  life, 
iiis  deceased  friend. 

And  then,  to  complete  and  consummate  the  proof 
of  a  resurrection,  he  himself  arose  from  the  dead.  The 
way  in  which  that  grand  event  demonstrates  the 
doctrine  of  our  resurrection  is  this — he  came  into  the 
world  in  the  high  capacity  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
the  Saviour  of  mankind.  In  that  capacity  he  pro¬ 
claimed,  that,  having  provided  salvation  for  the  hu¬ 
man  race,  he  would  come  again  when  his  plans  of 
mercy  were  completed,  to  raise  the  dead  and  to 
judge  the  world.  To  prove  that  he  was  what  he 
claimed  to  be,  and  that  he  would  fulfill  what  he  pre¬ 
dicted,  he  announced,  that  he  himself  would  arise 
from  the  dead  on  the  third  day  after  his  decease. 
“  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them,  When  ye  have  lifted 
up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am  he, 
and  that  I  do  nothiug  of  myself ;  but  as  my  Father 
hath  taught  me,  I  do  these  things.”  “  Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up  again.” 
He  descended  into  the  dreary  domains  of  death  ; 
disappeared  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  ; 
and  for  a  time  a  darkness  deeper  than  that  which  en¬ 
wrapped  the  earth  at  his  crucifixion  seemed  settling 
down  on  the  prospects  of  mankind,  and  turning  his 
tomb  into  the  grave  of  immortality.  But  on  the 
morning  of  the  appointed  day,  he  came  forth  as  he 
had  said,  stood  at  the  mouth  of  the  sepulcher,  radi¬ 
ant  with  immortality,  planted  the  banner  of  hope  on 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


239 


the  citadel  of  death,  and  called  on  the  world  to  be¬ 
hold  and  share  in  his  triumph.  Then  he  is  the  Son 
of  God  ;  then  he  will  come  again  to  raise  the  dead  : 
here  are  the  undeniable  stamp  and  seal  of  heaven 
that  all  his  representations  of  the  last  great  day  were 
true,  and  will  certainly  he  verified. 

Ill.  Among  the  numerous  additions  which  he  made 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  in  question,  we  may 
name,  first,  the  fact,  that  he  himself  will  raise  the 
dead.  “Jesus  answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God :  and  they 
that  hear  shall  live.”  Whether  this  prediction  relat¬ 
ed  to  the  approaching  resurrection  of  Lazarus  and 
others,  or  to  the  tide  of  spiritual  life  which  was  about 
to  flow  through  the  world  in  the  diffusion  of  the  gos- 
pol,  is  uncertain,  Perhaps,  indeed,  his  comprehen¬ 
sive  mind  may  have  looked  forward  to  both  ;  it  is 
evident,  however,  that  the  sublimity  of  the  predic¬ 
tion,  and  the  solemnity  of  the  asseveration  with 
which  he  prefaced  it,  awoke  in  the  minds  of  many  of 
his  hearers,  vast  and  awful  ideas  of  some  impending 
event,  ideas  which  impressed  marks  of  astonishment 
on  their  anxious  countenances.  Remarking  that  as¬ 
tonishment,  perceiving,  by  their  eager  and  attentive 
looks,  that  they  were  now  prepared  to  receive  a  still 
more  stupendous  announcement,  he  continued,  “Mar¬ 
vel  not  at  this  “  I  perceive  that  what  I  have  already 
said  has  filled  you  with  wonder,  and  well  it  might ; 
but  attend  and  you  shall  hear  still  greater  things 
than  these  ;  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all 
that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good,  to  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation.”  There  was  a  time  when 
no  life  existed ;  when  the  earth,  just  brought  into  be¬ 
ing,  presented  one  universal  blank,  no  vital  motion, 
no  breathing  life  upon  it.  But  he  spake,  and  it  was 
done ;  for  his  word  is  the  seed  of  universal  nature, 
the  principle  of  all  life.  His  fiat  went  forth,  and  in- 


240 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


stantly  whole  orders  of  sentient  beings  sprang  into 
happy  existence.  His  goodness  opened,  and  burst 
forth  in  a  creation  ;  and  earth  was  made  the  recep¬ 
tacle  of  his  vast  overflowing  life.  His  voice  was 
heard ;  and  forthwith  the  surface  of  the  earth  teemed 
and  overflowed  with  an  ocean  of  living  forms.  “  But 
by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by 
sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all 
have  sinned  !”  Since  that  tremendous  catastrophe 
death  has  reigned  upon  earth ;  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  his  ravages  are  known  in  any  other 
part  of  the  dominions  of  God;  this  is  his  native 
seat  and  throne  ;  here  he  keeps  court  and  regal 
state ;  God  has  been  constantly  replenishing  the 
world  with  new  life  ;  but  in  every  age,  death  has 
swept  and  cleared  the  stage,  has  thrown  a  pall  over 
each  generation,  has  not  allowed  the  grave  to  *be 
closed,  the  hatchment  of  the  world  to  be  taken 
down  for  a  moment,  has  carried  every  thing  be¬ 
fore  him.  We  and  our  contemporaries  are  the  few 
survivors  of  the  myriads  that  have  fallen,  the  child¬ 
ren  of  the  slain,  and  we  shall  soon  be  added  to 
the  number.  Oh,  could  we  see  the  numberless 
victims,  which  have  fallen  beneath  his  stroke  ac¬ 
cumulated  together,  we  should  behold  a  mountain 
of  mortality  towering  to  the  skies :  but  he  has  hid 
them  all  in  the  dust,  has  conveyed  them  all  away  to 
his  subterraneous  caverns,  his  ever-enlarging  prison 
of  the  grave. 

Now  it  was  not  fit  that  death  should  thus  reign  : 
though  we,  indeed,  had  deserved  to  be  left  in  his 
eternal  possession,  yet  it  did  not  comport  with  the 
benevolent  designs  and  glory  of  God,  that  death 
should  be  thus  allowed  to  enjoy  an  undisturbed  tri¬ 
umph  over  his  hands.  He  therefore,  who  at  first  had 
peopled  the  earth  with  living  beings,  again  returned 
to  survey  the  scene,  to  check  the  career  of  death,  to 
repair  the  waste  and  ravages  which  death  had  made. 
And,  oh  !  what  a  mournful  sight  presented  itself  to 
his  eyes ;  a  pestilential  element  breathed  by  death 
over  the  whole  creation,  withering  all  nature,  cans- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


241 


ing  the  entire  universe  of  being  to  languish,  and 
droop,  and  perish  ;  the  world,  his  world,  which  was 
meant  to  be  the  pleasant  habitation  of  his  creatures, 
turned  into  their  grave  ;  the  shadow  of  death  settled 
down  upon  all,  and  enwraping  it  like  a  funeral  pall 
signifying  that  all  was  his.  What  a  pitiable  specta¬ 
cle  stretched  beneath  his  view  ! — For,  remember,  he 
surveyed  the  whole  at  one  comprehensive  glance ; 
mothers  weeping  for  their  children,  and  refusing  to 
be  comforted  because  they  were  not ;  every  where, 
groups  of  mourners  collected,  weeping  over  those 
whom  death  had  seized,  bound,  and  made  captive  in 
their  presence  ;  long  processions  of  bereaved  rela¬ 
tives,  following  the  car  of  death  as  if  to  grace  his 
triumph,  and  uttering  their  lamentations  in  their 
march  to  the  grave  :  on  all  sides,  the  trophies  of 
death,  erected  in  the  shape  of  tombs,  and  sepulchers 
and  monumental  stones.  What  must  have  been  his 
emotions,  as  the  Lord  of  life  and  pity,  as  he  walked 
the  field  of  death,  this  place  of  skulls  !  What  were 
his  emotions  ?  Did  he  not  show  what  they  were  by 
his  conduct  ?  “  He  healed  all  manner  of  sickness, 
and  all  manner  of  diseases  among  the  people  in 
other  words,  he  defeated  the  designs  of  death  ;  drew 
out  the  arrows  which  death  had  infixed,  and  healed 
the  wounds  they  had  made.  Even,  had  he  done 
nothing  to  redeem  the  world,  his  visit  would,  still 
have  been  an  era  in  the  annals  of  mortality ;  the  Lord 
of  life  walking  through  the  regions  of  death.  No 
wonder  the  sick  and  the  dying  came  flocking,  and 
fell  down  at  his  feet ;  no  wonder  they  besought  him 
to  shelter  and  save  them  from  the  monster  which 
even  dared  to  chase  them  into  his  presence.  And 
did  he  not  save  them  ?  he  healed  them  all  ;  death 
paused,  and  stood  rebuked  in  his  presence  ;  found 
himself  overmatched ;  discovered,  for  the  first  time, 
that  there  was  one  mightier  than  he.  And  had  all 
the  world  brought  out  their  sick  and  their  dying, 
Christ  could  have  healed  them  all ;  thus  famishing 
death ;  thus  creating  a  hiatus  in  the  revenues  of 
21 


242 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


death.  Nor  was  this  all :  he  called  some  back  into 
life  again  ;  and  humbled  the  power  of  death  by  com¬ 
pelling  him  to  relinquish  his  prey. 

Do  we  ask  what  his  feelings  must  have  been  as  he 
traversed  this  Golgotha,  this  land  of  death  P  “  Jesus 
wept !”  yes,  he  stood  and  wept  !  And,  as  he  wept, 
he  resolved  to  remedy  and  to  save.  He  advanced  to 
the  very  gates  of  death  and  proclaimed  with  a  voice 
which  went  pealing  and  echoing  through  all  the  do¬ 
minions  of  death,  and  made  even  the  throne  of  the 
king  of  terrors  vibrate  and  tremble,  “  I  am  the  resur¬ 
rection  and  the  life  “  I  will  be  known  as  the  an¬ 
tagonist  of  death  ;  let  my  actions  prove  it “  Laza¬ 
rus  come  forth  ;  and  he  that  was  dead  came  forth.” 
There,  said  Christ,  “  He  that  believeth  in  me,  though 
he  were  dead  yet  shall  he  live.”  “  That  is  only  a 
specimen  of  my  designs.  I  am  the  great  principle 
of  life  ;  if  I  chose,  I  could  now  raise  all  the  dead  ; 
I  could  end  the  reign  of  death  at  once  ;  I  have  only 
to  speak,  and  all  the  dead  would  recognize  my  voice, 
and  start  into  life ;  but  wisdom  requires  me  to  for¬ 
bear  ;  this  is  meant  as  an  instance  of  my  power,  a 
sample  of  my  designs.”  “  Marvel  not  at  this  there¬ 
fore  ;  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that 
are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
man  and  shall  come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good 
unto  the  resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have 
done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation. 

IV.  Jn  opposition  to  the  Pharisees — the  principle 
sect  at  that  time  among  the  Jews — who  taught  that 
the  resurrection  would  be  partial,  being  confined  to 
the  bodies  of  the  just,  our  Lord  taught  that  it  would 
be  general.  God  works  by  laws,  and  laws  operate  uni¬ 
versally  :  every  action,  and  every  atom  in  the  uni¬ 
verse  has  its  own  law  ;  is  impressed  with  certain 
qualities,  or  endued  with  certain  powers,  which  ope¬ 
rate  with  all  the  certainty  of  a  law.  It  was  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  God,  that  the  sin  of  the  first  Adam,  as 
the  federal  head  of  the  human  race,  should  bring  in 
a  law  of  death,  and  the  law  has  acted  universally — 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


243 


all  have  died.  It  is  equally  his  appointment,  that  the 
mediation  of  the  second  Adam,  the*Lord  from  hea¬ 
ven,  standing  in  the  same  federal  relation,  should 
bring  in  a  law  of  life ;  he  was  pleased  to  endue  it 
and  impress  it  with  this  vital  property  or  law ;  and 
unless  it  should  meet  with  counteraction  from  a 
mightier  law,  which  is  impossible,  it  must  act  univer¬ 
sally.  “  As  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive.”  It  is  the  perfection  of  a  law,  that  it  in¬ 
cludes  all  possible  cases  that  may  occur  and  has  re¬ 
lation  to  an  infinite  number  of  cases  that  never  will 
exist ;  so  that,  had  the  actual  numbers  of  the  human 
race  been  multiplied  ten  thousand-fold,  the  law  of 
death  would  have  swept  them  all  into  the  grave ; 
and,  “  the  law  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,”  would  with  an 
operation  co-extensive,  have  revived  them  again. 
“  All  that  are  in  the  grave,  shall  hear  his  voice  and 
shall  come  forth.” 

Besides,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  the  resur¬ 
rection  is  not  a  final  act;  it  is  to  take  place  in  sub¬ 
serviency  to  the  divine  purposes  of  retribution  ;  so 
that  the  principles  of  the  holy  government  of  God 
require  that  it  should  be  universal.  Less  than  the 
resurrection  of  all  wotdd  not  satisfy  the  claims  of 
the  righteous  Judge.  Were  one  of  his  people  to  be 
lacking,  his  mercy  could  not  be  satisfied  ;  his  mysti¬ 
cal  body  would  be  maimed  and  deficient  in  an  essen¬ 
tial  member.  Were  one  of  the  ungodly  to  be  ab¬ 
sent,  his  justice  could  not  be  satisfied.  Whether 
good  or  evil,  all  will  be  raised  ;  every  age,  every  na¬ 
tion,  every  family,  every  individual  of  all  the  poste¬ 
rity  of  Adam.  Death  shall  be  abolished  and  swal¬ 
lowed  up  in  victory.  Not  only  shall  its  operation  be 
arrested,  its  ravages  stopped,  but  all  the  victims 
which  it  has  seized  from  the  beginning  of  time  shall 
be  reproduced  and  restored.  It  shall  behold  all  the 
organized  materials  which  it  had  dissolved,  and  scat¬ 
tered,  and  trampled  in  the  dust,  and  labored  to  ef¬ 
face  from  the  creation,  collected  and  surrounded,  and 
acted  upon  on  all  sides  with  a  principle  of  life  ;  and 


244 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


rising,  as  from  a  sleep,  clothed  with  incorruption.  It 
shall  behold  its  empire  vanish  in  a  moment,  by  the 
insurrection  of  all  its  subjects  armed  with  immortal¬ 
ity.  Many  of  the  greatest  empires  of  antiquity  are 
not  only  extinct  and  their  boundaries  effaced,  but 
even  the  seat  of  their  power  is  only  to  be  known  by 
colored  dust  in  the  desert,  or  by  colored  sand  wash¬ 
ed  up  by  the  waves  of  a  stormy  sea ;  but  of  the  em¬ 
pire  of  death,  not  a  vestige  shall  be  left  ;  not  a  par¬ 
ticle  of  dust,  if  searched  for,  shall  remain  for  its  me¬ 
morial  ;  life,  an  ocean  of  victorious  life,  shall  over¬ 
flow  and  swallow  it  up. 

V.  We  may  also  infer,  from  the  teaching  of  our 
Lord,  that  the  bodies  raised  will  be  identical  with 
those  committed  to  the  grave.  “  They  that  are  in  the 
graves  shall  come  forth.”  “Of  all  that  the  Father 
hath  given  me  I  will  lose  nothing,  but  will  raise  it  up 
in  the  last  day.”  Indeed,  the  very  term  resurrection 
implies  this  identity;  otherwise  the  bodies  produced 
in  the  last  day  would  be,  not  a  resurrection,  but  a 
creation,  like  that  of  the  first  man.  And  the  design 
of  the  resurrection  x-equires  it ;  the  purposes  of  justice 
demand  that  the  beings,  who  shall  then  appear  in 
judgment,  shall  be  the  identical  beings  who  have 
been  here  on  pi'obation.  To  the  objection  of  the 
sceptic,  that  the  rapid  waste  and  supply  of  our  ani¬ 
mal  frame,  the  succession  of  bodies  we  may  be  said 
to  inhabit,  l-enders  this  identity  inconceivable,  we 
deem  it  sufficient  to  reply  in  the  language  of  Christ, 
“Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  scriptures,  nor  the  pow¬ 
er  of  God.”  It  should  however  abate  his  confidence, 
if  not  entirely  silence  the  objector ;  that,  on  this 
principle,  neither  punishments  nor  rewards  could  be 
justly  dispensed,  even  in  this  life;  since  the  material 
structure  changes  so  rapidly,  that  in  the  lapse  of  a 
few  years  not  a  particle  of  the  primitive  body  re¬ 
mains.  He  would  not  think  of  asserting,  we  presume, 
that  he  himself  is  not  now  the  identical  individual 
he  was  at  the  time  of  his  birth :  that  the  decrepit 
body  of  the  aged  debauchee  is  suffering  unjustly  for 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


245 


the  intemperance  of  his  youthful  frame ;  that  it 
would  be  unrighteous  to  punish  the  murderer  for  a 
crime  which  he  perpetrated  when  his  body  was 
composed  of  other  particles  ;  or,  that  he  himself,  in 
consequence  of  a  similar  change,  has  no  title  to  pro¬ 
perty  left  him  a  few  years  ago.  His  common  sense 
protects  him  from  such  absurdities  in  the  affairs  of 
this  life  ;  and  we  will  leave  him  to  assign  to  himself 
a  reason,  if  he  can,  why  it  should  desert  him  only  in 
the  province  of  religion  ;  let  him  say,  what  is  the  in¬ 
terpretation  to  be  put  on  the  conduct  of  him  who 
reserves  all  his  hostility  lor  religion,  and  who  evinces 
that  hostility  by  availing  himself  of  weapons  which 
he  would  not  stoop  to  employ  against  any  other  ob¬ 
ject.  But  among  the  various  triumphs  of  the  resur¬ 
rection-day,  one  will  be  the  triumph  of  common 
sense  ;  and  let  him  remember  that,  even  while  he 
has  been  caviling  and  were  plying,  the  hour  of  retri¬ 
bution  has  come  nearer  ;  and  that  the  indestructible 
principle  of  conscience,  the  principle  which  runs 
through  our  being,  giving  continuity  and  identity  to 
that  being  through  an  eternity  of  existence,  has  actu¬ 
ally  gathered  strength  while  we  have  been  thus  com¬ 
muning,  and  increased  its  store  of  materials  for  fu¬ 
ture  joy  or  woe. 

VI.  We  have  already  shown  that  the  doctrine  of 
immortality  is  not  distinctive  of  the  Christian  system ; 
it  is  we  think  equally  clear,  that  the  honor  of  describ¬ 
ing  the  nature ,  and  providing  the  means  of  a  resurrec¬ 
tion  to  everlasting  happiness ,  is  peculiar  to  Christ  alone. 
Blind  to  the  fact  of  their  departure  from  God,  num¬ 
bers  are  satisfied  with  believing  the  bare  immortality 
of  their  nature  ;  here  their  inquiries  terminate  ;  the 
happiness  of  that  nature  they  take  for  granted  as  a 
matter  of  course ;  they  confound  existence  with  en- 
joymeut ;  an  error  this  which  many  a  heathen  would 
have  blushed  to  own.  Though  sitting  in  the  shadow 
of  death,  they  were  sufficiently  enlightened  to  per¬ 
ceive  that  an  immortality  of  misery  is  quite  as  possi¬ 
ble  to  sinful  creatures  as  an  eternity  of  bliss  ;  they 
21* 


246 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


would  have  regarded  him,  who  should  have  brought 
to  them  the  proof  of  immortality,  as  conferring  a 
very  equivocal  boon,  unless  he  could  also  show  that 
immortality  with  the  seeds  of  happiness  ;  and  hence, 
while  they  labored  to  demonstrate  a  future  state,  de¬ 
cidedly  the  greater  part  of  their  endeavors  were  di¬ 
rected  ta  the  task  of  exploring  the  character  and  will 
of  the  Divinity,  and  of  descrying  the  nature  of  the 
regions  beyond  the  grave,  with  a  view  to  provide  for 
their  future  enjoyment. 

Now  while  the  teaching  of  Christ  presupposes  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  to  him  belongs  the  grand 
distinction  of  having  proved  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  and  provided  for  the  endless  happiness  of  the 
whole  man  in  heaven.  Had  he  not  made  this  essen¬ 
tial  provision,  his  instructions  would  only  have  illu¬ 
minated  the  darkness  of  the  world,  as  with  flames 
ascending  from  the  bottomless  pit,  would  only  have 
painted  more  dreadful  colors  on  the  gloom  which 
lias  gathered  around  the  seat  of  the  Invisible  ;  and  he 
himself  might  be  reproached  as  tormenting  us  be¬ 
fore  our  time  ;  but  having  made  our  happiness  and 
our  immortality  consistent  and  co-extensive,  what 
can  equally  deserve  our  attention  with  the  way  in 
which  he  has  “  brought  it  to  light.” 

1.  By  this  essential  divinity  he  possesses  the  pow¬ 
er  of  defeating  death,  and  of  opening  to  the  soul  un¬ 
bounded  resources  of  pure  and  eternal  enjoyment. 
He  declared  that  “  he  has  life  in  himself  so  that  he  can 
quicken  whom  he  will.”  “I,”  said  he,  “am  the  res¬ 
urrection  and  the  life.”  “I  am . the  life.” 

This  is  language  appropriate  to  the  Deity  alone  :  for 
life  properly  speaking,  inhabits  none  besides.  Life 
in  him  is  essence  ;  but  of  the  highest  created  beings 
it  can  only  be  said  that  they  live,  that  they  are  the 
offspring,  the  dependent  recipients  of  his  essence. 
However  large  their  capacities,  and  replenished  with 
life,  still  they  are  infinitely  nearer  to  nothing,  than  to 
absolute  and  essential  life.  So  that  he  “  who  only 
hath  immortality,”  though  he  hath  surrounded  him- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


247 


self  with  an  universe  of  life,  still  retains  to  himself 
the  prerogative  of  swearing,  As  I  live  ;  and  of  an¬ 
nouncing,  I  am  ;  and,  /  am  life ;  he  only  hath  im¬ 
mortality  in  its  fullness  and  essence ;  and  all  the 
oceans  of  vitality  circulating  through  the  universe 
take  their  rise  in  him,  “with  whom  is  the  fountain  of 
life,”  “  he  filleth  all  in  all.”  But  if  it  belongs  to  him 
alone  to  say,  “I  am  life,”  when  surrounded  by  “  the 
living  creatures,”  the  princes  of  immortality  above, 
with  what  a  heightened  emphasis  could  he  repeat  it 
in  this  region  of  death  ;  here,  where  life  was  always 
conditional,  and  in  jeopardy  from  the  first ;  here, 
where  comparatively  a  very  small  portion  of  that  be¬ 
ing  had  been  distributed  at  first ;  where  that  little  had 
been  invaded,  forfeited,  wasted  ;  where  death  was  ac¬ 
tually  in  full  possession,  lie  came  into  a  land  of  sep¬ 
ulchers  ;  found  himself  standing  in  a  grave,  with 
death  for  a  companion  laboring  to  tread  out  and 
trample  in  the  dust  the  last  spark  of  human  life.  And, 
lifting  up  himself  into  an  attitude  of  supreme  dignity, 
he  said,  with  a  voice  which  is  still  echoing  through 
the  subterranean  realms  of  death,  “I  am  the  resur¬ 
rection,  and  the  life.”  “  I  am  the  ark  in  which  all  the 
life  is  contained  that  shall  finally  issue  to  people  a 
world  now  deluged  with  death.  From  me  proceeds 
all  the  redundancy  of  life  at  this  moment  replenish¬ 
ing  the  universe  ;  and  I  will  cause  a  stream  of  vitali- 
ity  to  set  in  and  flood  the  earth.” 

2.  But  power  and  right  are  distinct  things,  and, 
among  men  are  frequently  opposed  to  each  other. 
It  is  however  the  glory  of  him  who  can  do  all  things, 
that  he  does  only  that  which  is  right ;  that  his  power 
waits  on  his  justice,  and  takes  law  from  infinite  rec¬ 
titude.  Now  he  had  pronounced  it  right  that  man 
should  die ;  how  then  can  he  reverse  the  sentence, 
without  impeaching  its  rectitude,  and  appearing  to 
judge  himself?  And  yet  Jesus  asserts  to  himself 
the  right  of  restoring  the  dead  to  life,  selects  for  him¬ 
self  a  title  descriptive  of  this  work,  and  demands  to 
be  known  by  it,  as  his  most  honorable  and  favorite 
appellation. 


TIIE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


248 

The  problem  is  solved,  when  we  hear  him  affirm 
that  he  had  come  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many  ; 
that,  as  the  good  shepherd,  he  proposed  to  lay  down 
his  life  for  the  sheep.  Death  was  the  punishment  of 
transgression  ;  it  was  in  perfect  accordance  with  right 
that  the  penalty  should  be  inflicted,  in  order  that  ho¬ 
liness  might  be  protected,  that  sin  might  be  discour¬ 
aged,  and  that  the  divine  determination  to  maintain 
the  law  and  order  of  his  government  might  be  em¬ 
phatically  proclaimed.  If,  however,  an  expedient 
can  be  devised  by  which  all  these  ends  can  be  equal¬ 
ly  answered,  without  the  infliction  of  the  penalty, 
right  will  be  satisfied,  and  concede  the  exemption. 
That  expedient  is  found  in  the  incarnation  and  death 
of  the  Son  of  God.  By  voluntarily  stooping  from 
his  glory,  assuming  our  nature,  and  suffering  before 
the  eyes  of  the  universe,  all  that  humanity,  sustained 
by  divinity,  could  endure,  he  has  answered  the  very 
ends  which  our  punishment  would  have  secured,  and 
infinitely  more  ;  he  has  placed  the  hatefulness  of  sin, 
and  the  holiness  of  God  in  a  focus  of  light  which 
will  make  itself  to  be  seen  by  every  eye  ;  he  has  at 
once,  inflicted  a  death-blow  on  the  power  of  sin,  giv¬ 
en  a  triumph  to  justice,  secured  life,  eternal  life  to 
man;  and  distinguished  an  attribute  which  would 
have  been  for  ever  eclipsed  had  justice  taken  his  orig¬ 
inal  course,  the  attribute  of  Infinite  Love.  The  na¬ 
ture  of  his  reward  was  determined,  predetermined, 
by  the  nature  of  his  work  ;  he  died,  in  order  to  ex¬ 
empt  us  from  death.  Having  received  his  reward, 
having  purchased  us  out  of  the  hands  of  offended 
justice,  and  made  us  his  own  property,  he  may  now 
employ  the  right  he  has  acquired  in  us  as  he  pleases. 
Death,  in  its  judicial  character,  is  abolished.  He  is 
at  liberty,  either  to  exempt  his  people  entirely  from 
death,  to  insert  an  exception  in  their  favor  in  the  uni¬ 
versal  commission  of  death  ;  or,  permitting  the  sen¬ 
tence  of  mortality  to  take  effect,  to  restore  them  to 
life  afterwards,  and  place  them  forever  beyond  the 
reach  of  death.  His  wisdom  prefers  the  latter 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


249 


course.  By  allowing  them  to  depart  from  earth  in 
the  ordinary  way,  through  the  portal  of  death,  he 
leaves  undisturbed  the  existing  arrangements  of  prov¬ 
idence,  avoids  many  palpable  evils,  and  secures  in  ad¬ 
dition,  many  valuable  ends.  But  while  he  allows  this 
arrangement  to  hold,  he  would  have  his  people  to 
know  that  it  is  not  forced  on  him ;  that  it  is  the  choice 
of  his  own  benignity  ;  that  he  sways  an  unchallenged 
scepter  over  the  whole  empire  of  hades ;  that,  in 
respect  to  his  people,  the  shadow  of  death,  wherever 
it  falls,  may  be  regarded  as  the  shadow  of  that  scep¬ 
ter,  for  at  their  death,  “  he  comes  to  receive  them 
to  himself.” 

3.  But  sin  involves  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  physical 
death.  We  have  seen  that  Christ  possesses  thejooia- 
er  of  re-animating  the  body  ;  and  that  he  is  invested 
with  the  right ;  hut  it  is  evident  that  these  may  both 
be  exercised  to  the  punishment  of  men,  “for  some 
shall  come  forth  to  the  resurrection  of  damnation.” 
The  great  question  then  which  remains,  is,  whether 
or  not  he  possesses  the  means  of  calling  us  forth  to 
an  immortality  of  happiness.  “  I  am  come,”  said  he, 
“  that  they  may  have  life,  and  that  they  may  have  it 
more  abundantly.”  “  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life  ;  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  at  the  last  day.”  “Whosoever  drinketh  of 
the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but 
the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well 
of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life.”  “This 
spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on 
him  should  rqceive.”  By  the  agency  of  his  Holy 
Spirit,  he  conducts  in  his  people,  in  the  present  life, 
a  moral  process  by  which  they  experience  a  resur¬ 
rection  to  holiness.  The  hour  is  not  only  coming, 
but  now  is,  when  the  dead  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son 
of  God :  and  they  that  hear  it  live.  Starting  from 
the  slumbers  of  sin,  they  awake  to  newness  of  life, 
and  attire  themselves  in  the  garments  of  salvation. 
Dissevering  themselves  from  their  former  bonds, 
they  ask  to  be  trained  for  every  duty  his  service  may 


250  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

require,  and  pant  to  en  joy  all  the  happiness  his  king¬ 
dom  may  contain.  Conscious  that  they  are  once 
more  breathing  the  only  atmosphere  in  which  the 
soul  can  live — the  complacent  favor  of  God — -they 
feel  within  themselves  an  earnest  of  immortality ; 
feel  that  the  new  principle  of  which  they  have  been 
made  the  subjects  has  nothing  to  fear  from  death, 
that  it  is  made  for  eternity,  that  it  can  smile  at  the 
decay  of  the  body,  and  will  soon  spring  from  the 
bed  of  death  to  immortality. 

And,  from  the  fact  that  they  have  been  made  the 
partakers  of  a  divine  principle,  there  arises  to  be¬ 
lievers  this  new  pledge  of  a  resurrection  to  eternal 
life — that  Christ  has  engaged  to  raise  them  as  a  part 
of  his  own  being.  This  truth  he  himself  distinctly 
taught;  “As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I 
live  by  the  Father  :  so  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he 
shall  live  by  me;’’ — “he  dwelleth  in  me,  and  I  in 
him — “  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day  — “  be¬ 
cause  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.”  He  became  one 
flesh  with  us,  in  order  that  we  might  become  one 
spirit  with  him.  Here  is  a  two-fold  bond  subsisting 
between  Christ  and  his  people  :  but  the  former  of 
these  they  possess  only  in  common  with  all  mankind, 
it  allies  him  to  the  species,  and,  by  virtue  of  it,  all 
the  ungodly  shall  be  raised.  The  spiritual  bond  how¬ 
ever,  is  peculiar  to  themselves  ;  it  has  been  tied  by 
his  own  hand,  and  nothing  shall  be  able  to  [separate 
it.  By  virtue  of  this  union  it  is  that  believers  shall 
arise  ;  not  merely  by  an  act  of  his  power,  for  thus 
the  wicked  shall  arise,  but  by  an  extension  of  his  life 
as  their  life.  To  the  ungodly  he  can  say,  “1  am  the  res¬ 
urrection  but  to  the  faithful  alone  he  proclaims,  “  I 
am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.”  ££  The  grave  was 
the  prison-house  of  insulted  justice ;  and  as  their 
Representative  he  bowed  himself  down,  and  conde¬ 
scended  to  wear  its  fetters  ;  but  his  enlargement  and 
return  from  it  shows  that  it  no  longer  retains  its  orig¬ 
inal  character ;  he  has  changed  it  into  the  peaceful 
depository  of  their  dust;  the  treasury  of  the  skies; 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


251 


they  contemplate  his  grave  as  the  basement-ground 
whence  their  nature  takes  its  spring  to  immortality. 

So  ample  and  sufficient  are  the  preparatory  meas 
ures  which  Christ  has  taken  for  the  final  extinction 
of  death,  that  he  speaks  of  it  in  terms  of  compara¬ 
tive  disparagement  and  indifference.  So  effectually 
is  it  disarmed  and  mutilated,  and  so  completely  at 
the  disposal  of  Christ,  that  he  speaks  of  it  already  as 
if  it  were  not.  “  Whosoever  believeth  in  me,  shall 
never  die.”  “  If  a  man  keep  my  sayings  he  shall 
never  taste  of  death,  he  shall  never  see  death.”  In 
accordance  with  these  representations,  he  has  given 
to  the  state  of  death  the  soft  and  tranquilizing  name 
of  sleep.  This  use  of  the  term,  indeed,  was  not  un¬ 
known  to  Jewish  saints  ;  but  as  applied  by  them  to 
death,  it  denoted  chiefly  the  silence,  darkness,  and 
inactivity  of  the  grave.  The  Greeks,  too,  had  long 
been  accustomed  to  speak  of  death  in  the  Softest 
terms :  the  dead  they  often  spoke  of  as  the  departed, 
the  loom  oid ;  and  called  their  burial-grounds,  dormi¬ 
tories  or  sleeping  places.  But  this  arose  partly  from 
the  dislike  they  felt  to  allude  to  a  gloomy  and  unwel¬ 
come  subject  ;  and  partly  from  a  wish  to  propitiate 
the  deceased,  of  whom  they  stood  in  considerable 
dread.  IIovv  superior  the  sense  in  which  Jesus  em¬ 
ployed  the  term,  sleep  !  they  used  it  as  a  figure,  but' 
lie  turned  it  into  a  reality  ;  they  uttered  it  from  fear, 
but  he  made  it  the  language  of  hope  and  of  faith. 
He  used  it  with  the  highest  authority,  for  he  was 
about  to  awaken  one  of  the  sleepers  from  his  sleep; 
and,  however  protracted  the  slumbers  of  his  people 
may  be,  he  knew  that  they  are  all  finally  to  hear  his 
voice  and  to  come  forth. 

Dense  as  the  gloom  is  which  hangs  over  the  ffiouth 
of  the  sepulcher,  it  is  the  spot,  above  all  others,  where 
the  gospel,  if  it  enters,  shines  and  triumphs.  In  the 
busy  sphere  of  life  and  health,  it  encounters  an  ac¬ 
tive  antagonist ;  the  world  confronts  it,  aims  to  ob¬ 
scure  its  glories,  to  deny  its  claims,  to  drown  its  voice, 
to  dispute  its  progress,  to  drive  it  from  the  grounu  it 


THE  GUEAT  TEACHER, 


252 

occupies.  But  from  the  mouth  of  the  grave  the 
world  retires ;  it  shrinks  from  the  contest  there  ;  it 
leaves  a  clear  and  open  space  in  which  the  gospel 
can  assert  its  claims,  and  unveil  its  glories  without 
opposition  or  fear.  There  the  infidel  and  the  world¬ 
ling  look  anxiously  around,  but  the  world  has  left 
them  helpless  and  fled.  There  the  Christian  looks 
around,  and  lo  the  angel  of  mercy  is  standing  close 
by  his  side.  The  gospel  kindles  a  torch,  which  not 
only  irradiates  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  but 
throws  a  radiance  into  the  world  beyond,  and  reveals 
it  peopled  with  the  sainted  spirits  of  those  who  have 
died  in  Jesus.  It  descends  with  us  into  the  low 
chambers  of  the  grave  ;  bids  us  look  on  its  silent  in¬ 
mates  ;  and  to  look  on  them  with  the  persuasion  that 
they  only  sleep.  It  assures  us  that  death,  like  sleep, 
is  not  the  destruction  of  the  living  principle,  but  only 
a  temporary  change  in  the  mode  of  its  operation  ; 
that,  like  sleep,  it  is  a  state  of  rest,  discharging  us 
from  all  the  concerns  of  the  world  ;  that,  like  sleep, 
it  principally  affects  the  body,  the  activity  of  the  soul 
being  meantime  continued,  and  perhaps  greatly  in¬ 
creased  ;  and,  most  of  all,  that,  like  sleep,  it  will  not 
be  perpetual,  but  only  endure  for  a  night.  It  tells  us 
that  a  day  will  dawn  on  the  world,  when  Jesus,  as¬ 
suming  an  aspect  of  infinite  benignity,  will  say,  in 
effect,  of  all  his  sleeping  saints,  as  he  said  of  Lazarus, 
“  I  go  to  awake  them  out  of  sleep.” 

O  how  vast  the  immortal  awakening !  Who  can 
lift  his  mind  to  the  greatness  of  the  occasion !  Where 
is  the  height  from  which  we  can  command  a  view  of 
the  sublime  spectacle?  In  prospect  of  it,  “Jesus 
said,  The  hour  is  come,  that  the  Son  of  man  should 
be  glorified.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  a 
corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
alone  :  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.”  As 
the  first  fruits  of  them  that  sleep,  he  has  arisen  and  ap¬ 
peared  before  God,  the  certain  pledge  of  the  great 
harvest-home.  “  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the  harvest 
is  ripe :  multitudes,  multitudes,  in  the  valley  of  de- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


253 


cision.”  The  wide  earth  shall  “stand  thick,”  and 
wave,  with  that  ocean  plentitude  of  life.  The  pro¬ 
duce  of  the  fields,  every  year,  is  a  renewed  triumph 
of  life  over  death  ;  but  the  triumph  of  life  on  that 
day  will  be  final  and  complete,  leaving  not  an  atom 
for  which  death  can  contend.  It  will  be  a  triumph 
of  the  highest  order,  consisting,  not  in  the  mere  cre¬ 
ation  of  a  new  being,  but  in  the  release  and  reanima¬ 
tion  of  what  had  been  dragged  away  from  the  terri¬ 
tories  of  life  ;  death  itself  will  be  turned  into  life, 
corruption  will  put  on  incorruption.  The  triumph 
will  be  enhanced  by  the  circumstance  that  it  will  be 
achieved  on  the  very  spot  where  death  had  reigned ; 
if  the  power  of  death  be  confined  to  this  world, 
what  an  opprobrium  must  earth  be  to  all  the  regions 
of  life,  and  how  naturally  may  it  be  pointed  at  by 
their  inhabitants  as  the  mysterious  sepulcher  of  life, 
the  dishonor  of  the  universe  ;  but  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection  will  wipe  off  that  disgrace,  will  make 
earth  their  bokst  and  song  ;  for,  “  there,  they  will  be 
able  to  say,  there  death  was  overthrown  ;  there  the 
great  antagonist  of  life,  after  wasting  the  earth  for 
thousands  of  years,  and  threatening  to  push  the  con¬ 
quest  into  other  worlds,  was  expelled  from  the  uni¬ 
verse  as  an  evil  no  longer  to  be  borne.  And  from 
that  very  scene  where  death  once  reigned,  heaven 
has  received  its  largest  influx  of  spiritual  and  immor¬ 
tal  life.”  And  to  consummate  the  triumph,  life  on 
that  day  will  be  crowned  with  immortality ;  it  will 
not  merely  be  restored,  but  ennobled,  exalted  to  the 
highest  state  of  security  and  glory  it  can  sustain. 
From  the  ruinous  heap  of  every  grave  a  living 
structure  shall  arise,  built  up  into  an  imperishable 
monument  of  “  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life in 
the  stead  of  corruption,  it  shall  be  inaccessible  to  de¬ 
cay;  “for  neither  can  they  die  any  more,  they  are 
equal  unto  the  angels ;  and  are  the  children  of  God, 
being  the  children  of  the  resurrection.”  In  the  stead 
of  dishonor  it  will  be  raised  in  glory,  radiating  a 
splendor  which  shall  eclipse  all  sublunary  glory.  In 
22 


254 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

the  place  of  weakness,  it  shall  be  clothed  with  the 
vigor  of  immortal  youth,  asking  no  relaxation  or  re¬ 
pose,  the  wings  of  the  soul  accompanying  and  aiding 
it  in  all  i|s  untiring  flights.  In  the  place  of  a  natural 
body,  it  shall  be  raised  a  spiritual  body  ;  the  original 
grossness  of  its  materiality  shall  be  purged  away,  it 
shall  be  refined  and  etherialized  into  spirit,  a  robe  of 
light  rivaling  the  invisible  essence  of  the  soul  itself ; 
while  each  of  its  senses  shall  form  an  inlet  to  floods 
of  enjoyment,  and  each  of  its  organs  be  instinct  and 
emulous  with  zeal  for  the  divine  glory. 

Earth  has  been  often  the  scene  of  splendid  tri¬ 
umphs,  the  fame  of  which  has  filled  the  world,  and 
reverberated  from  age  to  age  ;  but  how  tame,  how 
trifling  the  greatest  achievments  of  man  compared 
with  this  !  a  triumph  which  not  only  effaces  the  re¬ 
membrance  of  all  that  man  has  done,  but  even  eclip¬ 
ses  the  glory  of  the  divine  exploits;  “the  former 
things  shall  no  more  come  into  rememberance.” 
Here  man  may  indulge  in  wonder  without  loss  of 
dignity  ;  not  to  be  astonished  here  would  be  unnatu¬ 
ral  !  Christ  himself  is  represented,  ages  before  his 
incarnation,  as  contemplating  this  scene  with  bound¬ 
less  delight,  as  rehearsing  his  victory  over  death  from 
eternity.  From  the  bosom  of  the  Father  he  looked 
on  through  the  vista  of  time,  while  the  successive 
parts  of  his  great  work  passed  in  slow  and  stately 
procession,  till  he  beheld  the  scene  of  the  rising 
dead  ;  all  the  intermediate  ages  instantly  vanished  ; 
he  saw  in  anticipation,  the  king  of  terrors  disarmed 
beneath  his  feet,  the  world  flooded  with  light, 
and  life,  the  song  of  myriads  reached  his  ear 
shouting  his  name  as  their  Great  Deliverer;  and, 
with  holy  impatience  to  realize  the  scene,  he  ex¬ 
claimed,  “I  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the 
grave ;  and  I  will  redeem  them  from  death ;  O 
death,  I  will  be  thy  plagues  !  O  grave,  I  will  be  thy 
destruction  !”  And  during  the  interval  till  he  came 
in  the  flesh,  did  his  interest  in  the  prospect  appear 
to  have  evaporated  ?  What  truth  did  he  more  fre- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


255 


quently  or  solemnly  teach  ?  Thrice,  in  rapid  succes¬ 
sion,  he  exclaimed,  “  I  will  raise  them  up  at  the  last 
day  as  if  he  sought  to  find,  in  the  bare  repetition  of 
the  truth,  a  solace  and  compensation  for  deferring 
the  event.  Nor,  since  his  ascension,  does  his  desire 
to  realize  it  appear  to  have  suffered  the  least  abate¬ 
ment.  On  the  contrary,  “  from  henceforth  he  is  ex¬ 
pecting”  till  this  last  enemy  shall  be  destroyed. 
When  last  he  appeared  before  his  church,  to  close 
the  visions  of  futurity,  the  character  which  he  se¬ 
lected  for  the  occasion,  was,  “  he  that  hath  the  keys 
of  the  invisible  world,  and  of  death.”  This  is  the 
capacity  in  which  he  will  next  greet  the  eyes  of  the 
redeemed  ;  meanwhile,  he  is  training  them  to  raise, 
in  concert  with  himself,  this  shout  over  the  last  of 
their  foes,  “  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory?” 


SECTION  VII. — OF  THE  FINAL  JUDGMENT. 

‘The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory  ;  and  before  him  shall  be  gath¬ 
ered  all  nations. 55 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  will  not  take  place  as  a  final 
event,  that  it  stands  in  the  relation  of  means  to  an 
end,  and  tlial  end,  the  general  judgment,  with  its 
eternal  awards.  Even  “  Enoch,  the  seventh  from 
Adam,  prophesied  of  that  day,  saying,  Behold,  the 
Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints,  to  exe¬ 
cute  judgment  upon  all.”  And  Solomon,  when,  in 
the  capacity  of  a  preacher,  he  looked  round  the  uni¬ 
verse  for  the  strongest  motive  to  holy  obedience — 
the  motive  which  should  render  it  unnecessary  to 
seek  another — took  it  from  the  prospect  of  a  judg¬ 
ment  to  come  ;  “  Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter :  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  command- 


256 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


inents  :  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man.  For  God 
shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with  every  se¬ 
cret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether  it  be  evil.” 

He  who  “  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,”  has 
imparted  to  man  a  subordinate  prescience  of  the 
same  comprehensive  kind,  has  sketched  on  his  mind 
an  outline  of  the  great  system  of  providence,  and  fill¬ 
ed  him  with  presentiments  of  the  principal  events 
which  are  to  attend  the  development  of  that  system. 
The  consequence  is,  that  wherever  the  Bible  comes, 
it  finds  our  nature  preconfigured  to  many  of  its 
truths,  waiting  for  an  interpreter,  and  ready  to  re¬ 
spond  to  the  truth  of  many  a  prediction,  as  a  proph¬ 
ecy,  of  an  anticipation  with  which  it  had  long  been 
familiar  in  thought,  and  for  which  it  only  wanted  di¬ 
vine  authentication  and  a  name  in  order  to  regard  it 
as  a  solemn  reality.  Indeed,  in  this  respect,  the 
work  of  God  only  resembles  his  word  ;  for  as  in  his 
word,  he  has  often  disclosed  the  infinite  affluence  of 
his  mind  by  revealing,  with  all  the  simplicity  of  ap¬ 
parent  unconsciousness,  an  eternal  principle  in  a 
passing  word  ;  and  infinite  project  in  an  incidental 
allusion;  so,  in  the  construction  of  the  human  mind, 
he  has  traced  on  it  characters  and  imagery  which 
can  only  be  read  by  the  light  of  eternity  ;  thrown  on 
it  the  unsteady  shadows  of  objects  which  stand  yet 
far  distant  on  the  plains  of  futurity.  Of  these  pre¬ 
intimations  we  know  of  none  more  deeply  inlaid  in 
the  mind  than  that  of  future  retribution.  That  the 
ancient  saints  lived  in  the  faith  of  it  we  know ;  for 
the  Spirit  of  inspiration  has  recorded  the  very  words 
in  which,  in  the  prospect  of  that  day,  they  triumphed 
over  their  persecutors,  and  sang  of  the  joy  that 
would  crown  them  in  “  the  day  of  the  Lord.” 
And,  relying  on  the  uniformity  and  immutability  of 
the  human  constitution,  we  may  safely  infer  that  an¬ 
cient  sinners  anticipated  it  also.  There  were  mo¬ 
ments  when  they  possessed  the  warning  of  its  ap¬ 
proach  in  the  restless  apprehensions  of  their  own 
breasts ;  moments  when  the  fires  of  that  day  seemed 


MIS  ORIGINALITY. 


257 


to  rise  up  in  the  distant  horizon  and  to  cast  a  lurid 
glare  on  the  face  of  their  startled  and  trembling  con¬ 
science  ;  when  the  mention  of  such  a  day  would 
have  fallen  in  with  the  smothered  forebodings  of 
their  minds  ;  would  have  aroused  an  inward  moni¬ 
tor,  which,  however  carefully  laid  to  sleep,  was  ready 
to  awake  at  the  slightest  summons,  and  to  bear  tes¬ 
timony  in  the  cause  of  righteousness. 

But  though  the  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment  did 
not  originate  in  the  teaching  of  Christ,  though  from 
the  earliest  ages,  mankind  had  variously  received  it, 
yet  the  light  they  possessed,  even  the  revealed  light, 
did  but  just  suffice  dimly  to  show  them  the  Judge  en¬ 
throned  in  clouds,  and  surrounded  with  judgments  ; 
while,  from  his  superiority  to  temptation,  his  great¬ 
ness  and  perfection,  they  inferred  that  the  Judge  of 
all  the  earth  would  do  right.  But  the  person  of  the 
Judge,  the  pomp  and  process  of  the  judgment,  its 
most  solemn  circumstances,  and  affecting  results— 
all  this  was  comparatively  unknown  to  them  ;  and  in 
supplying  the  information  our  Lord  has  greatly  en¬ 
larged  the  original  part  of  his  teaching. 

1.  When  speaking  of  the  final  judgment,  it  is  ob¬ 
servable  that  he  seldom  omitted  to  insist  and  enlarge 
on  its  publicity.  He  thus  reminds  us,  that  the  end 
for  which  there  is  any  judgment  at  all,  is  best  secur¬ 
ed  by  having  it  held  in  the  presence  of  all  worlds; 
that  piety  may  be  most  honored,  sin  most  abashed, 
and  the  government  of  God  vindicated  and  glorified, 
on  the  largest  possible  scale.  In  a  few  descriptive 
words,  he  fills  the  horizon  with  intelligent  beings  of 
all  orders  and  characters.  It  will  not  be  the  judg¬ 
ment  of  a  single  individual,  nor  of  a  nation,  but  of  a 
whole  world  of  intelligent  and  accountable  beings. 
It  will  not  be  an  assize  for  sins  of  recent  commission 
merely,  sins  committed  thousands  of  years  before 
will  be  reproduced  and  examined,  with  all  their  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  aggravation,  as  if  they  had  been  only 
just  committed.  What  a  profound  impression  will 
that  produce  of  the  holy  character  of  God,  and  of 
22* 


258 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  infinite  enormity  of  sin  !  When  his  people  are 
crowned,  he  would  not  have  one  of  their  enemies 
absent ;  and  when  the  ungodly  are  doomed  lie  would 
not  have  one  of  the  righteous  absent ;  he  would 
have  them  now  to  forestall  that  day,  to  feel  by  antici¬ 
pation,  that  they  are  speaking  with  the  universe  for 
their  audience  and  acting  in  the  great  theatre  of  the 
judgment ;  and,  then  he  would  have  them  to  depart 
to  their  respective  allotments  bearing  away  with 
them  impressions  of  the  hatefulness  of  sin,  and  the 
beauty  of  holiness,  which  shall  remain  uneffaced 
through  all  the  scenes  of  eternity. 

2.  Pursuing  our  examination,  we  recognize  in  the 
Judge  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  “The 
Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  before  him 
shall  be  gathered  all  nations.”  “The  Father  judg- 
eth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  to  the 
Son.”  He  hath  “  authority  to  execute  judgment 
also,  because  he  is  the  Son  of  man in  his  super-ad¬ 
ded  humanity,  consists  the  very  reason  of  his  ap¬ 
pointment.  If  the  Judge  is  to  be  seen  on  that  day 
with  our  bodily  eyes,  and  if  realities  are  to  triumph 
on  that  day  over  appearances,  substances  over  sha¬ 
dows,  then  is  it  fit  that  no  illusion  should  sit  on  the 
throne,  that  he  should  occupy  it  who  is,  “  without 
controvers3r,  God,  manifest  in  the  flesh.”  If  that  is 
to  be  the  f  day  of  final  compensation,  the  day  in 
which  all  the  arrears  of  reward  and  honor  shall  be 
brought  up  to  all  the  sufferers  in  the  cause  of  virtue, 
then  is  it  fit  that  the  Judge,  the  Prince  of  sufferers, 
and  who  is  set  forth  as  the  type  of  the  happiness 
which  holy  suffering  yields,  should  receive,  in  his 
own  person,  the  amplest  compensation  ;  that  he  who 
submitted  to  be  arraigned,  and  who  occupied  the 
cross  here,  should  then  ascend  the  throne  as  his 
proper  reward.  If  it  wras  right  that  the  work  of  sal¬ 
vation  should  be  commenced,  it  must  also  be  right 
that  it  should  be  completed  ;  and  if  it  wras  fit  that 
Christ  should  undertake  it,  then  is  it  fit,  that,  in  or¬ 
der  to  evince  his  competency,  and  reward  his  toils, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


259 


he  also  should  complete  it ;  that  the  honor  of  confer¬ 
ring  the  last  great  blessings  of  his  grace,  and  of  giv¬ 
ing  the  final  application  the  great  principles  of  his 
dispensation,  should  be  enjoyed  by  him  alone.  If  it 
was  right  in  God,  so  to  construct  the  plan  of  salva¬ 
tion,  .that  in  all  its  workings  it  should  be  made  to 
yield  to  believers,  as  it  does,  the  largest  possible 
measure  of  consolation  and  joy,  then  must  it  be  right 
also,  that  in  the  person  of  their  Judge  they  should 
recognize  their  Redeemer.  It  will  give  an  addition¬ 
al  value  to  the  crown  of  life,  that  it  will  be  bestowed 
by  the  hand  of  Christ  ;  that  the  very  being  who  died 
for  them,  who  gave  them  the  grace  of  repentance, 
and  who  awakened  in  them  the  hope  of  salvation, 
should  come  personally  to  realize  their  hopes,  to  col¬ 
lect  them  around  him,  to  wipe  away  every  tear,  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  plaudits  of  the  universe  in  their  salvation  ; 
this  will  be  the  only  ingredient  their  cup  of  bliss 
will  require,  and  the  last  it  can  receive  ;  having  that, 
their  joy  will  be  full.  And  if  it  be  right  that  his  en¬ 
emies  should  be  vanquished,  it  seems  fit  that  he 
should  vanquish  them  ;  if  it  is  proper  that  unbelie¬ 
vers  should  be  condemned,  there  appears  a  peculiar 
propriety  that,  both  for  their  greater  conviction,  and 
his  greater  exaltation,  the  sentence  of  condemnation 
should  be  pronounced  by  him. 

And,  oh  !  what  an  enhancement  of  their  doom, 
will  this  single  circumstance  contain  !  If  a  person 
be  conscious  that  he  is  chargeable  with  ingratitude, 
and  wjth  ingratitude  beyond  forgiveness,  he  would 
rather  confront  his  greatest  foe  than  the  person  he 
has  thus  injured.  Were  any  other  being  than  Christ 
to  ascend  the  throne  of  judgment,  or  were  he  any 
other  than  he  is,  the  confusion  of  the  impenitent  sin¬ 
ner  at  appearing  in  his  presence  would  be  less  intol¬ 
erable.  But  when  he  shall  draw  near,  and  be  com¬ 
pelled  to  look  on  that  injured  goodness,  his  confu¬ 
sion  will  be  complete.  When  he  shall  behold  him 
invested  in  the  robe  of  humanity,  that  single  light  will 
flash  on  him  the  recollection  of  all  that  Jesus  did  in  that 


260 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


nature  to  redeem— the  incarnation,  the  bloody  sweat 
the  cross,  the  pierced  side— all  will  rise  to  view  and 
penetrate  him  with  an  agonizing  sense  of  his  ingrati¬ 
tude  and  guilt.  When  he  shall  hear  the  voice  of  that 
injured  Being,  the  voice  which  he  had  heard  so  often 
m  the  gospel,  inviting,  entreating,  beseeching  Him  in 
every  tone  of  gracious  solicitude,  it  will  vibrate  on 
his  ear  more  dreadfully  than  the  sound  of  the  arch- 
angels  trump  which  called  him  from  the  grave 
When  the  impenitent  are  represented  as  calliiW  on 
the  mountains  and  rocks  to  fall  on  them ;  what  is 
that  which  they  seek  to  avoid  P  they  ask  to  be  hidden 
lorn  the  lace  of  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne 
and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb— the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb.  Had  it  been  the  fury  of  the  lion  ;  had  it  been 
the  wrath  of  a  being  who  had  only  created  them, 
giving  them  a  Jaw,  and  left  them  to  obey  it  or  perish  : 
who  had  only  been  known  to  them  as  a  being  of  ri<>-" 
orous  and  unbending  justice  ;  then,  however  con¬ 
scious  of  guilt  they  might  have  attempted  to  lift  up 
their  hardened  front  in  his  presence.  But  it  is  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb  ;  of  a  Being  who  has  alwavs  act¬ 
ed  towards  them  with  infinite  tenderness  and  na- 
hence  ;  who  became  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  great 
sacrificial  victim,  suffering  and  dying  to  take  away 
their  guilt:  this  is  the  circumstance  which  will  ren¬ 
der  Ins  wrath  so  unendurable,  that  they  will  ask  no 
higher  favor  than  to  be  sheltered  from  the  sight  of 
his  face,  and  would  take  the  weight  of  the  incum¬ 
bent  earth  as  a  blessed  exchange. 

•3.  Our  Lord  very  frequently  spoke  of  the  pomp 
and  circumstances  of  the  final  scene.  In  painting 
that  coming  event,  there  is,  no  doubt,  a  propensity  to 
overcharge  the  picture  will,  physical  terrors  •  to 
make  it  depend  for  interest,  too  exclusively,  on  ma¬ 
terial  splendors  ;  there  is  a  danger  of  sinking  the 
moral,  and  of  leaving  the  mind  unduly  occupied  with 
images  of  material  grandeur.  And  it  is,  no  doubt 

vvill’h  1  tt 111  that  awful  d.ay’  our  sPintual  condition 
will  be  the  great  engrossing  theme  ;  that  a  flaming- 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


261 


world  will  have  little  interest  for  one  who  is  about  to 
pass  into  a  lake  which  ever  burneth ;  that  the  stu¬ 
pendous  magnificence  of  the  surrounding  scene 
will  have  slight  attractions  for  one  whose  ear  has 
just  drank  in  the  sentence  of  divine  approval,  and 
whose  eye  is  last  filling  with  the  visions  of  eternal 
life.  But,  till  then ,  we  haye  the  sanction  of  our  Lord’s 
example,  for  introducing,  and  enlarging  on,  the  physi¬ 
cal  machinery  of  that  day.  He  who  knew  all  the 
avenues  to  the  human  heart,  knew  that  the  way  to 
engage  our  attention  to  the  day  of  doom  itself,  is  to 
invest  it  with  sublime  senical  imagery,  to  accumulate 
around  it  all  those  circumstances  of  awful  pomp 
which  are  known  to  have  terrible  attraction  for  the 
human  heart.  “  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  in  his  own  glory,  and  in  the  glory 
of  his  Father,  and  of  all  his  holy  angels,  with  a  great 
sound  of  trumpets.” 

And  who  can  question  that  the  truth  of  the  scene 
requires  this  dramatic  description  ?  Had  Sinai  its 
apparatus  of  quailing  terrors  ;  its  sublime  blackness 
of  darkness ;  its  thunders,  and  tempests,  and  earth¬ 
quakes  ;  its  sound  of  a  trumpet  waxing  louder  and 
louder;  and  its  hosts  of  ministering  angels :  did  all 
this  appalling  machinery  attend  the  publication  of  the 
law,  a  mere  national  event,  a  comparatively  private 
scene  ?  and  shall  that  day,  when  the  law  is  to  assert 
its  high  majesty,  and  man  to  have  his  final  audit ;  that 
day  of  universal  summoning,  and  eternal  dispensa¬ 
tions  ;  be  wanting  in  circumstantial  effect  ?  Had 
even  Bethlehem  its  signs  and  wonders,  its  guiding 
star,  and  exulting  cherubim ;  when  he  came  as  in 
labored  obscurity,  could  creation  even  then  be  hardly 
restrained  from  collecting  her  glories  to  grace  the 
scene  ?  and  shall  she  be  remiss  in  her  attendance 
when  he  will  come  on  purpose  to  be  glorified,  when 
leave  will  be  given  her  to  pour  all  her  splendors  in 
his  train  ?  has  Calvary  also  its  tale  of  prodigious 
things ;  did  nature  come  and  weep  at  his  cross,  and 
sympathize  with  his  sorrows  ?  and  shall  she  not  come 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


262 

to  wait  on  Jiis  throne  and  give  effect  to  his  triumph  ? 
Yes,  we  believe  that  the  promise  which  lie  made, 
especially  to  his  disciples,  is  destined  to  have  univer¬ 
sal  application  ;  that  every  element  and  every  nature 
which  sympathized  in  his  tribulation,  will  then  be 
promoted  to  swell  his  strain,  or  enthroned  to  share 
1  lis  glory.  Whether,  indeed,  every  predicted  prodigy, 
every  image  of  terrible  sublimity  which  the  scrip¬ 
tures  assign  to  that  awful  day,  will  be  literally  real¬ 
ized  or  not,  it  is  immaterial  to  determine.  The  fact 
that  our  Lord’s  descriptions  of  it  fill  the  imagination, 
that  iu  order  to  aggrandize  its  interest  he  has  select¬ 
ed  and  combined  every  element  of  greatness,  beauty, 
and  terror,  warrants  us  to  infer  that  the  machinery 
will  be  every  way  worthy  the  unparalleled  occasion; 
that  if  one  of  those  predicted  circumstances  are 
wanting,  it  will  only  be  to  make  way  for  another  of 
surpassing  power.  “He  shall  come  in  his  own  glo¬ 
ry,”  clad  in  the  robe  of  essential  light  he  had  worn 
from  eternity  ;  “anti  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,”  ab¬ 
sorbing  in  his  ,own  person  all  power  and  office,  invest¬ 
ed  by  the  paternal  hand  with  all  the  insignia  of  su¬ 
preme  majesty,  and  girt  with  the  sword  of  ultimate 
justice,  never  till  now  unsheathed  ;  and  crowned  with 
the  most  convincing  signs,  and  glorious  demonstra¬ 
tions  of  paternal  love  ;  “  and  in  the  glory  of  his  holy 
angels,”  all  the  bright  inhabitants  of  heaven,  forsak¬ 
ing  their  sublime  occupations,  and  descending  from 
their  lofty  seats,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
and  thousands  of  thousands,  shall  encircle  his  throne, 
and  attend  his  coming.  In  the  presence  of  that 
splendor,  the  sun  itself  shall  wane,  and  all  light  be 
swallowed  up.  The  vast  procession,  sailing  on  the 
bosom  of  the  troubled  air,  filling  the  concave  of  the 
sky,  and  flanked  with  prepared  thunderclouds  of 
wrath,  shall  open  its  front  on  the  astonished  world. 
No  interpreter  will  be  necessary;  it  will  flash  its 
meaning  on  every  mind;  find  a  key  in  every  breast ; 
explaining  a  thousand  presentiments,  and  realizing 
ten  thousand  apprehensions.  The  sound  of  the 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


263 

trumpet  is  heard  ;  it  is  the  voice  of  the  judge  calling 
for  the  sleeping  dead  ;  calling  with  a  voice  which  is 
instantly  heard,  understood  and  obeyed;  they  that 
are  in  their  graves  come  forth.  Again  it  sounds,  and 
unnumbered  angels,  true  to  the  signal,  disperse  over 
the  four  winds  of  heaven,  and  collect  the  whole  hu¬ 
man  family  into  the  area  of  the  great  tribunal.  Then 
shall  ensue  the  conflagration  of  the  globe  ;  forsaken 
of  its  inhabitants,  all  its  stores  of  fire  shall  be  un¬ 
masked,  every  mountain  shall  be  a  Sinai,  and  the 
flame  universal  ;  yet  who  shall  heed  the  sight  ?  for 
the  great  assize  will  have  began.  “  Oh,  may  the  Lord 
grant  that  we  may  find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  that 
day.” 

4.  The  rectitude  which  will  distinguish  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  the  last  day,  is  a  sentiment  familiar  to  the 
Old  Testament  On  this  account,  I  shall  content  my¬ 
self  with  barely  repeating  it,  had  not  our  Lord  di¬ 
rected  our  attention  to  certain  particulars,  by  which 
that  rectitude  will  make  itself  impressively  seen. 
“  Before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations  in  other 
words,  the  judgment  will  be  universal.  If  it  were 
not ;  if  only  one  of  all  the  generations  of  mankind 
were  absent,  the  whole  universe  would  have  a  right 
to  complain  of  injustice.  But  the  judgment  will  be 
righteous,  so  that  all  will  be  present ;  and  therefore 
you  will  be  present.  However  lothe  to  leave  the 
darkness  of  the  grave,  you  must  come  forth.  How¬ 
ever  loud  your  entreaties  for  the  rocks  to  fall  on  you, 
and  to  the  hills  to  cover  you,  they  will  refuse  to  af¬ 
ford  you  a  refuge.  Though,  now,  you  may  often 
compel  nature  to  serve  you  in  your  sins,  and  to  con¬ 
ceal  your  character ;  then  it  will  be  avenged  ;  dark¬ 
ness  itself  will  reject  you ;  the  night  will  become 
light  about,  you,  every  department  and  element  of  cre¬ 
ation,  true  to  its  original  design,  will  render  service 
to  its  Lord  in  conspiring  to  facilitate  the  ends  of  jus¬ 
tice.  And  so  essential  to  these  ends  will  be  the  pre¬ 
sence  of  every  human  being,  that  if  you  alone  were 
absent,  the  solemn  proceedings  would  wait,  the  judg¬ 
ment  would  stop  for  your  appearance. 


264  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

But  impartiality  requires  not  only  that  every  indi¬ 
vidual  should  be  present ;  it  also  demands  that  cog¬ 
nizance  he  taken  of  every  act.  Let  a  single  deed, 
let  a  single  thought,  the  most  inconsequent  and  un¬ 
productive  that  ever  passed  through  the  mind,  be 
omitted  ;  and  if  that  thought  possessed  a  moral  qual¬ 
ity,  the  universe  would  be  justified  in  protesting 
against  the  omission.  But  nothing  shall  be  overlook¬ 
ed,  nothing  made  light  of;  the  slightest  voluntary  ex¬ 
ercise  of  the  soul,  the  very  dust  of  the  balances  shall 
be  taken  into  account.  The  two  mites,  the  cup  of 
cold  water,  the  prison  visit,  the  pious  wish,  on  the 
one  hand  ;  the  omitted  kindness,  the  idle  word,  the 
unchaste  look,  the  thought  of  evil,  the  deed  of  dark¬ 
ness,  on  the  other  ;  shall  all  be  brought  into  the  open 
court.  It  is  in  the  moral  world  as  it  is  in  the  natural, 
where  every  substance  weighs  something :  though 
we  speak  of  imponderable  bodies,  yet  nature  knows 
nothing  of  positive  levity.  And  were  we  possessed 
of  the  necessary  scales,  the  exquisite  instrument,  we 
should  find  that  the  same  holds  true  in  the  moral 
world.  Nothing  is  insignificant  on  which  sin  has 
breathed  the  breath  of  hell ;  every  thing  is  impor¬ 
tant  on  which  holiness  has  impressed  itself  in  the 
faintest  characters.  And,  accordingly,  “there  is  noth¬ 
ing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed  ;  and  hid  that 
shall  not  be  made  known,”  However  unimportant 
now  in  the  estimation  of  man,  yet,  when  placed  in 
the  light  of  the  divine  countenance,  like  the  atom  in 
the  sun’s  rays,  it  shall  be  found  deserving  attention ; 
and  as  the  minutest  molecule  of  matter  contains  all 
the  primordial  elements  of  a  world,  so  the  least  ac¬ 
tion  of  the  mind  shall  be  found  to  include  in  it  the 
essential  elements  of  heaven,  or  of  hell. 

And  in  order  to  make  good  its  character  for  right¬ 
eousness,  it  must  also  be  a  judgment  of  proportion 
and  comparison  ;  in  which  the  guilt  of  each  is  ascer¬ 
tained  according  to  all  its  peculiar  modifications.  In 
the  courts  of  human  judicature,  one  law,  and  one 
measure  of  punishment,  is  often  applied  to  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  offences  varying  in  their  shades  of  guilt. 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


265 


But,  in  that  day,  a  law  will  be  found  for  every  differ¬ 
ent  sin  ;  and  a  measure  of  punishment  accurately 
adjusted  to  every  measure  of  guilt.  It  will  be  more 
tolerable  for  some  than  it  will  be  for  others.  He  who 
knew  his  Lord’s  will,  and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten 
with  many  stripes ;  and  he  who  knew  not,  and  yet 
committed  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten 
with  few  stripes.  The  number  of  talents  which  each 
had  received,  will  determine  the  returns  which  each 
should  have  made.  It  will  not  be  a  question  merely 
of  guilt  or  innocence,  but  a  question  of  how  guilty. 
The  sinner  will  not  merely  be  convicted  of  impeni¬ 
tence,  but  of  all  the  aggravations  of  his  impenitence. 
He  will  find  himself  brought  into  comparison  with 
those,  who,  though  their  religious  advantages  were 
less  than  his,  succeeded  in  laying  hold  on  eternal  life. 
He  will  find  himself  confronted  by  the  men  of  Sod¬ 
om  and  Gomorrah,  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  Nineveh  ; 
the  whole  heathen  world  will  rise  up  in  judgment 
to  condemn  him.  They  who  have  been  punished  will 
demand — they  who  ivould  have  been  punished,  had 
they  misused  their  means  and  mercies  as  he  has 
done,  will  demand — the  universe  will  demand,  on  ev¬ 
ery  principle  of  impartiality  and  justice,  that  the  im¬ 
penitent  hearer  of  the  gospel  shall  not  escape,  that 
judgment  go  forth  against  him,  that  he  be  punished 
according  to  the  enormity  of  his  guilt. 

Were  any  allowed  to  absent  themselves  from  that 
tribunal,  the  hearers  of  the  gospel  certainly  would 
not ;  they  form  the  most  important  class  that  will  be 
there  arraigned.  Could  any  class  of  sins  be  passed 
by,  impenitence  under  the  gospel  could  not ;  it  takes 
rank  with  the  highest  order  of  guilt ;  it  will  throw 
every  other  description  of  sin  into  the  shade.  Were 
a  day  of  judgment  appointed  for  no  other  class,  the 
hearers  of  the  gospel  are  a  class  so  important,  that 
the  judgment  would  be  set,  and  the  books  be  opened, 
if  only  for  them.  They  occupy  no  middle  ground. 
They  are  either  the  subjects  of  faith  and  repentance, 
and  as  such  entitled,  through  grace  to  the  highest 
23 


266 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


glories  of  ihe  heavenly  state  ;  or  else  they  are  the 
guiltiest,  the  most  inexcusable  of  their  race,  and  as 
such  deserving  of  the  extremest  woe.  We  are  to 
suppose  that  the  most  ordinary  proceedings  of  that 
day  will  be  invested  with  a  more  awful  solemnity 
than  the  universe  ever  before  beheld  :  but  when  the 
impenitent  hearer  of  the  gospel  shall  be  arraigned, 
that  solemnity  shall  deepen,  if  possible,  a  thousand¬ 
fold  :  while  the  crimson  aggravations  of  his  guilt 
shall  be  laid  open,  the  attention  of  the  congregated 
world,  shall  become  more  breathless  and  intense ; 
and  when  his  doom  shall  be  pronounced,  the  voice 
of  the  righteous  judge,  if  possible  shall  take  a  still 
deeper  tone,  and  speak  with  a  more  awful  emphasis, 
as  he  utters  the  sentence,  “  Depart  from  me ;  I  nev¬ 
er  knew  you.” 

And  to  render  the  rectitude  of  the  judgment  per¬ 
fect,  the  whole  must  be  conducted  according  to  the 
known  laws  of  the  divine  government.  In  other 
words,  the  laws  to  which  man  is  now  required  to  con¬ 
form,  are  the  identical  rules  to  which  his  conduct 
will  then  be  brought.  Were  another  standard  to  be 
then  set  up,  a  new  law  introduced,  man  might  justly 
object  to  its  irrelevance,  put  in  a  plea  of  ignorance, 
and  protest  against  its  application.  But  the  rule  of 
judgment  will  be  two-fold:  the  law  of  eternal  moral¬ 
ity  to  which  our  nature  was  originally  adapted,  and 
in  obedience  to  which  we  should  have  found  perfec¬ 
tion  ;  and  the  law  of  grace  brought  in  to  suit  our 
lapsed  condition,  and  in  compliance  with  which  we 
may  obtain  salvation.  These,  as  they  are  the  only 
rules  known  to  us  now,  will  be  the  only  laws  adduc¬ 
ed  then  ;  the  consequence  of  which  will  be,  that  our 
works,  our  present  conformity  or  non-conformity  with 
these  known  principles  will  constitute  the  great  sub¬ 
ject  of  inquest.  “  By  thy  words  shalt  thou  be  justifi¬ 
ed,”  said  Christ,  “  and  by  thy  words  shalt  thou  be 
condemned.”  While  he  declares  that  the  formula  of 
the  final  sentence  shall  run  thus,  “  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it ;  and  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not .” 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


2G7 


In  his  hands,  these  laws  will  become  of  universal 
application.  He  will  make  it  apparent  that  our  con¬ 
duct  has  never  stopped  with  ourselves;  that  it  has 
never  stopped  at  human  laws,  but  has  been  all  re¬ 
lated  to  his  divine  laws  ;  that  every  thing  we  have 
done  has  obeyed  a  law,  or  violated  a  law  divinely  en¬ 
acted  ;  and  either  written  on  our  hearts,  or  published 
in  his  word.  And  not  only  will  these  laws,  in  his 
hands,  receive  universal  application  as  to  persons,  but 
also  as  to  the  character  of  each  individual ;  taking 
cognizance  of  all  its  thoughts  and  rudiments.  If  we 
had  eyes  adapted  to  the  sight,  we  should  see  on  look¬ 
ing  into  the  smallest  seed,  the  future  flower,  or  shrub, 
or  tree,  enclosed  in  it.  He  will  look  into  our  feel¬ 
ings  and  motives  as  into  seeds  ;  by  those  embryos 
of  action  he  will  infallibly  determine  what  we  are, 
and  will  show  what  we  should  have  been  had  there 
been  scope  and  stage  for  their  developement  and  ma¬ 
turity.  His  law  has  a  magnifying  power  ;  and  when 
he  shall  apply  it  in  that  day  to  human  character,  the 
faintest  and  minutest  parts  of  that  character  will 
show  a  definite  outline,  and  a  determinate  quality. 

And  how  easy  will  it  be  for  him  to  give  the  law 
this  magnifying  power;  or, rather,  to  show  that  it  has 
always  possessed  it.  IIovv  often  did  he  do  this  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  for  the  Old  Testament  code.  Hy  a 
single  sentence  ;  a  passing  remark  :  he  sometimes 
laid  open  the  spiritual  interior  of  a  precept ;  and 
showed  that  in  the  morality  of  the  ancient  book  there 
lay,  as  in  its  germ,  the  whole  legislation  of  his  new 
economy.  The  last  day  will  be  the  triumph-  of  law: 
by  a  single  touch  the  scales  shall  fall  from  our  eyes; 
and  what  now  seems  low  in  the  standard  of  holiness 
shall  be  seen  towering  away  to  an  infinite  height,  and 
what  now  seems  contracted  shall  be  seen  taking  an 
immeasurable  compass.  God  himself  will  be  seen 
paying  reverence  to  the  law  ;  and  man  shall  feel  him¬ 
self  pervaded  and  encompassed  by  it.  Nothing  shall 
seem  to  exist  but  character  and  law ;  man,  denuded 
of  all  hut  character,  shall  find  nothing  left  him  but 


268 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


his  virtue  or  his  vice  :  and  the  law,  in  tiie  person  of 
the  Judge,  applying  itself  to  that  character,  and  mak¬ 
ing  its  estimate.  The  reign  of  appearances  and  pro¬ 
fessions  will  then  be  over,  and  works  alone  will  he  in 
request.  Now  men  act  as  though  the  law  called  on¬ 
ly  for  words,  professions,  semblances  of  right ;  but 
then  it  will  be  heard  calling  imperatively,  lor  works , 
character ,  works :  and  men  w  ill  find  that  they  have 
nothing  else  left  them  to  produce. 

5.  The  necessary  result  of  bringing  the  human 
character  to  this  test  will  be,  the  division  of  the 
whole  human  family  of  man  into  two  classes — the 
good,  and  the  bad.  “  When  the  Son  of  man  shall 
come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him, 
then  shall  He  sit  upon  the  throne  of  liis  glory,  and 
He  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shep¬ 
herd  divideth  the  sheep  from  the  goats  :  and  he  shall 
set  the  sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the 
left.”  Now,'  men  are  distributed  into  a  thousand  clas¬ 
ses,  divided  and  subdivided  by  so  large  a  multiplica¬ 
tion  of  social  and  artificial  distinctions,  that  this 
greatest  of  all  distinctions,  arising  from  character,  is 
almost  confounded  and  lost  in  the" crowd.  But,  “they 
that  have  done  good,  and  they  that  have  done  evil,” 
will  be  the  sole  remaining  distinction  then :  the  mul- 
tifareous  compound  of  human  society  will  be  resolv¬ 
ed  into  two  simple  elements. 

The  student  of  nature  adverts  with  proud  delight  to 
that  period  in  the  history  of  science,  when,  as  facts 
multiplied,  leading  phenomena  became  prominent, 
law's  began  to  emerge,  and  generalizations  to  com¬ 
mence  ;  when  the  discoveries  of  a  single  mind  har¬ 
monized  unnumbered  facts,  and  placed  the  system 
of  the  universe  on  a  basis  never  after  to  be  shaken. 
The  judgment  will  be  a  great  process  of  moral  gener- 
aliziatiou.  Wherever,  indeed,  the  gospel  comes  with 
power ;  even  now  the  process  begins.  It  no  sooner 
obtains  a  footing  amongst  a  people,  than,  pouring 
contempt  on  all  their  existing  distinctions,  it  propo¬ 
ses  a  new  classification.  It  develops  the  conscience, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


269 


raises  the  moral  part  of  our  nature  into  importance, 
bestows  all  its  attention,  and  confers  all  its  titles  up¬ 
on  that  point.  It  essays  to  separate  the  precious  from 
the  vile,  and  to  collect  them  into  a  church  ;  to  draw  a 
line  of  demarcation ;  on  the  one  side  of  which  shall 
stand  all  the  pood,  and  on  the  other  side  all  the  bad ; 
and  this  classification  it  intends  to  be  all-comprehen¬ 
sive  and  ultimate.  At  present,  however,  numerous 
impediments  operate  to  prevent  the  perfect  realiza¬ 
tion  of  the  theory.  Approximation  is  all  that  can  be 
attained.  Tares  spring  up  among  the  wheat ;  and, 
notwithstanding  every  precaution,  the  foolish  virgins 
mingle  with  the  wise.  But  the  last  day  shall  behold 
this  simplification  complete.  By  the  operation  of  a 
single  principle  lie  will  reduce  the  •  chaos  to  order, 
“dividing  the  light  from  the  darkness.”  By  the  ap¬ 
plication  of  a  single  rule  he  will  gather  “like  things 
to  like  and  two  classes  shall  comprise  all  the  in¬ 
finite  varieties.  Under  one  or  the  other  of  these, 
each  individual  shall  find  a  place — a  place  so  appro¬ 
priate,  that  he  could  not  exchange  it  even  with  one 
of  the  same  class,  without  doing  violence  to  all  fit¬ 
ness  and  order:  and  those  characteristics,  on  account 
of  which  the  place  has  been  assigned  him,  will  be 
acknowledged  by  all  to  be  specific,  his  most  distin¬ 
guishing  marks.  The  universe  will  confess  and  ad¬ 
mire  the  justice,  harmony,  and  perfection  of  the  dis¬ 
tribution. 

Some,  in  their  impatience,  would  have  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  to  effect  this  separation  at  once  ; 
they  would  gather  out  the  tares  before  the  time  of 
harvest.  As  if  they  despaired  of  a  judgment-day, 
they  would  fain  bring  all  the  plans  of  Providence 
within  the  bounds  of  time  ;  as  if  it  gave  them  but 
little  satisfaction  to  know  that  a  full  exposition  and 
justification  of  the  ways  of  God  is  to  be  made  in 
eternity,  they  would  forestall  the  future,  and  submit 
his  plans  to  instant  explanation.  But,  “  Nay,”  saith 
he,  “  ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.” 
“  As  the  tares  are  left  till  the  time  of  harvest,  and  are 
23* 


270 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


then  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire  ;  so  shall  it  be 
at  the  end  of  the  world.  The  Son  of  man  shall  send 
forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his 
kingdom  all  things  that  oftend,  and  them  that  do  ini¬ 
quity.”  Thus  he  signifies  that  his  plans  are  already 
formed,  formed  with  an  accuracy  which  admits  of 
no  alteration,  and  on  a  scale  of  greatness  which  ex¬ 
cludes  all  haste.  He  can  afford  to  wait.  Had  he  any 
occasion  to  doubt  the  issue,  he  might,  at  times,  be 
tempted  to  precipitate  the  end.  But  he  sees  the  end 
from  the  beginning ;  sees  it  so  clearly,  and  awaits  it 
so  confidently,  that  his  patience  only  proclaims  the 
efficiency  of  his  government.  If  impatience  of  his 
apparent  delay  could  have  induced  him  to  hasten  the 
final  event,  if  suspicious  of  his  power,  if  misconstruc¬ 
tions  of  his  patience,  could  have  provoked  him  to 
rashness,  long  before  this  he  would  have  “  sworn, 
there  shall  be  tune  no  longer.”  But  his  forbearance 
serves  to  illustrate  his  majesty  ;  and  is  meant  to  re¬ 
mind  us,  that  if  he  does  not  submit  his  plans  to  our 
present  impatience,  and  compress  them  into  the  limits 
of  time,  it  is  because  he  reserves  them  for  a  nobler 
theatre,  and  deems  them  worthy  the  expanse  of 
eternity. 

There  are  others  who  construe  his  apparent  delay 
in  favor  of  the  impunity  of  prosperous  vice.  “  The 
evil  servant  saith  in  his  heart  my  Lord  delayeth  his 
coming.  And  with  that  he  begins  to  smite  his  fellow 
servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken.” 
“As  in  the  days  of  Noah,  they  laugh  at  the  threaten¬ 
ed  judgment,  and  eat  and  drink,  marry  and  are  given 
in  marriage.”  Because  the  event  has  been  long  fore¬ 
told,  but  through  a  series  of  ages  has  not  taken  place, 
they  conclude  it  need  be  dreaded  no  more,  and  take 
heart  to  live  on  in  sin.  They  forget  that  his  forbear¬ 
ance  to  the  wicked  makes  part  of  a  vast  and  gracious 
plan, by  which  he  is  seekingtheir  salvation.  They  forget 
that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and 
a  thousand  years  as  one  day ;  and  that  when  the  whole 
circle  of  time  shall  have  revolved,  they  themselves 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


271 


will  think  it  short.  They  are  now  in  the  condition 
of  one  who  has  swallowed  some  poisonous  and  fatal 
draught :  the  taste  may  be  pleasant,  the  operation 
may  be  slow,  and  he  may  begin  to  flatter  himself 
that  it  will  never  take  effect ;  but  only  wait  the  neces- 
sary  time,  and  it  will  appear  that  he  has  swallowed 
death  The  poison  of  sin  is  now  sleeping  in  the 
veins  of  humanity  ;  few  of  its  deadly  symptoms  may 
at  present  appear;  but  in  the  last  day  they  will  all 
be  developed  ;  the  destructive  element  will  then  ap¬ 
pear  in  its  real  character,  will  furnish  its  awful  ope¬ 
ration  in  the  second  death  of  all  who  have  neglected 

the  divine  antidote.  .  .  , 

“The  angels  shall  come  forth  and  sever  the  wick¬ 
ed  from  among  the  just.”  By  this  intimation  our 
Lord  intended  not  merely  to  rebuke  the  impatience 
of  those  who  would  hasten  his  judgments,  but  to  de¬ 
note  the  perfect  accuracy  with  which  the  separation 
will  be  made.  The  work  will  be  committed  to  the 
highest  order  of  created  instrumentality ;  the  process 
of  discrimination  will  be  conducted  under  the  imme¬ 
diate  eye  of  Omniscience.  Man,  we  have  seen,  in 
his  ignorance  and  impatience,  frequently  deems  it 
necessary  now  ;  God  himself,  the  long-suffering  God 
himself,  will  deem  it  necessary  then.  The  happiness 
of  his  subjects  will  require  that  he  should  gather  out 
of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend  and  whatsoever 
worketh  abomination  ;  that  all  whose  characters  are 
not  congenial  with  the  laws,  the  enjoyments,  the  so¬ 
ciety  of  that  blessed  state,  should  be  removed  beyond 
the  borders  of  his  dominions.  The  stability  of  his 
kingdom  will  require  it.  Unlike  every  other  kingom, 
he  declares  that  his  kingdom  shall  never  be  moved. 
He  designs  it  for  eternity  ;  but  were  he  to  admit  into 
its  composition  any  impure  elements,  any  perishable 
materials,  it  would  mar  his  purpose,  it  would  do  him 
no  honor,  his  work  would  require  revision  and  im¬ 
provement,  it  would  not  be  perfect.  Like  a  wise 
builder,  therefore,  he  will  permit  nothing  to  enter  as 
an  elementary  part  of  that  fabric,  but  gold,  and  sil- 


272 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ver,  and  precious  stones;  the  wood,  hay,  and  stub¬ 
ble,  shall  be  burnt  up.  He  will  secure  to  it  eternal 
stability,  by  allowing  nothing  to  become  a  part  of  it, 
which  has  not  passed  under  the  scrutiny  of  his  om¬ 
niscience,  and  received  the  seal  of  his  approbation. 

G.  Immediately  consequent  on  this  separation  will 
be  the  final  award.  “  Then  shall  the  king  say  unto 
them  on  his  right  hand,  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Fa¬ 
ther,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.”  How  gracious  the  lan¬ 
guage  !  Every  word  is  fraught  with  infinite  benig¬ 
nity.  Then  shall  he  say  it — then,  when  the  universe 
is  assembled,  when  he  is  distributing  endless  life 
and  endless  death,  when  every  word  he  utters  is 
pregnant  with  fate,  when  all  creation  is  hushed  into 
the  deepest  silence,  when  the  spheres,  the  very  stars 
in  their  courses,  are  standing  still  to  listen — then, 
when  no  creature  is  breathing,  but  all  are  intensely 
bending  to  hear,  then  shall  he  address  to  them  on  his 
right  hand  the  infinite  welcome.  He  will  say  to  them, 
Come  ;  a  word  which  will  place  him  in  the  center  of 
a  redeemed  universe,  which  will  collect  around  him 
all  the  loyal  and  the  sanctified  in  the  creation,  which 
will  bring  all  the  blessed  into  immediate  communi¬ 
cation,  and  place  them  in  eternal  conjunction  with 
himself.  He  will  say  to  them,  Come;  and,  opening 
his  arms  of  infinite  love,  their  nature  shall  find  per¬ 
fection,  and  their  love  repose.  He  will  say  to  them, 
Come ;  and  every  mansion  in  heaven  shall  echo  the 
invitation  as  if  impatient  to  receive  its  destined  guest. 

“  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father how  compre¬ 
hensive  the  title  !  reaching  through  eternity  ;  causing 
every  thing  in  the  universe  to  cast  a  benignant  aspect 
upon  them  ;  appointing  them  heirs  of  blessedness. 
How  efficacious  the  blessing  !  not  the  mere  breath  of 
applause,  not  a  faint  impotent  wish  of  happiness 
which  evaporates  and  is  lost  in  the  air ;  but  a  sub¬ 
stantial,  operative  blessing,  which  carries  its  own  ful¬ 
fillment  ■with  it  ;  clothing  them  with  happiness  like 
a  garment,  surrounding  them  with  it  like  an  element, 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


273 


blending  it  with  their  nature,  gloryfying,  or  turning 
them  into  glorv.  If  a  fellow-creature  blessed  them, 
it  only  implied  that  he  loved  them  ;  but  to  be  blessed 
and  beloved  of  God,  can  only  he  because  they  are 
lovely.  How  irreversible  the  blessing!  lor,  it  he 
blesses,  who  can  curse  ?  the  hatred  and  imprecations 
of  the  universe  could  not  deprive  them  ot  it. 

«  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you .”  More  than  a  mansion,  a  city,  a 
province — a  kingdom ,  is  yours  ;  honor  in  its  fountain  , 
unbounded  resources  ;  freedom  and  dominion  not  to 
be  questioned;  royalty  shared  with  the  King  ol 
kings.  A  kingdom  prepared,  adapted  in  all  its  ar¬ 
rangements  to"  your  renewed  natures ;  a  state  in 
which  your  lofty  aspirations  and  desires  have  been 
amply  and  expressly  provided  for.  While  on  earth 
you  evinced  the  royalty  of  your  descent ; .  you  exei 
cised  dominion  over  sin  ;  you  sought  to  give  laws  to 
the  world  ;  to  establish  a  new  reign  upon  earth ;  you 
cultivated  the  noblest  principles;  pursued  high  an 
regal  objects;  now  realize  your  most  enlarged  de¬ 
sires,  ascend  your  thrones,  and  assume  your  crowns. 
The  kingdom  was  prepared  for  you  from  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  the  world.  Your  happiness  engaged  the  eter¬ 
nal  mind  before  the  world  began :  he  purposed  it, 
planned  it,  secured  it,  ages  before  your  existence,  li 
wisdom  rejoiced,  from  eternity,  in  the  habitable  paits 
of  the  earth  ;  if  she  shared  her  delights,  prospective¬ 
ly,  with  the  sons  of  men,  while  they  would  be  pass¬ 
ing  their  probationary  state,  how  much  more  would 
she  love  to  ponder  the  vision  of  their  final  glorifica¬ 
tion  in  heaven  ;  if  the  bare  anticipation  ot  providing 
for  their  reception  on  earth,  of  mingling  with  them, 
taking  to  them  blessings  from  heaven,  and  seeing 
them  provisionally  happy  in  the  low  vale  of  mortali¬ 
ty  ;  if  the  prospect  of  this  filled  her  with  joy,  how 
much  more  would  the  completion  ot  all  her  plans, 
and  the  consummation  of  their  happiness,  in  the 
crowns  and  thrones  of  the  heavenly  state,  engage  her 
care  and  enrapture  her  with  delight.  Come  possess 


274 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

a  kingdom  which  existed  for  yon  in  the  divine  idea 
before  the  earth  itself  was  made. 

O  what  a  welcome  this!  Yet  vast  as  it  is,  he 
seems  only  to  ease  his  infinite  heart  in  uttering  it. 
What  fragrant  breathings  of  grace,  filling  the  uni¬ 
verse  with  vital  odors!  What  ravishing  accents  to 
those  addressed !  they  will  feel  that  till  then  they 
never  heard  the  sound  of  music !  Then  first  will 
they  begin  to  respire.  Then  will  their  glory  reach 
its  meridian  to  know  no  decline.  Then  will  their 
joy  attain  its  fulltide  mark,  to  know  no  ebb.  Less 
than  this  would  uot  satisfy  the  blessed  Lord  himself. 
For  this  he  guaranteed,  as  the  reward  of  his  media¬ 
tion  ;  on  this  his  heart  has  ever  been  set.  Could  he 
not  bring  forth,  on  the  occasion,  all  the  reserved 
treasures  of  the  Godhead,  he  would  account  himself 
dishonored  and  defeated.  But  even  he  shall  be  sat¬ 
isfied  :  even  He,  as  he  looks  on  his  people,  shall  say, 
both  for  himself  and  for  them,  “It  is  enough.”  Glo¬ 
ry  shall  then  cast  off  its  last  veil ;  and  as  it  offers  it¬ 
self  to  their  fulleyed  view,  and  looks  forth  upon 
them,  they  shall  open  to  it  their  inmost  souls,  they 
shall  themselves  become  glory. 

“Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left 
hand,  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed  into  everlasting  fire 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.”  Of  heaven 
it  is  said  it  was  prepared  for  the  righteous  ;  prepared 
for  them  from  the  foundation  of  the  world:  but  it  is 
not  said  of  hell  that  it  was  prepared  for  the  ungodly  ; 
that  was  prepared  originally  for  the  devil  and  his  an¬ 
gels.  Hell  did  not  form  a  primary  part  of  the  cre¬ 
ation  ;  there  was  a  time  when  there  was  no  hell  in  the 
universe ;  such  a  place  did  not  enter  into  God’s 
primitive  design  ;  it  wras,  so  to  speak,  accidental, 
made  necessary  by  sin  ;  it  was  an  after-creation,  forc¬ 
ed  on  the  Almighty  that  he  might  provide  a  recepta¬ 
cle  for  guilt.  Now,  if  he  prepared  heaven  from  the 
first,  it  shows  that  he  created  man  to  be  happy  :  and 
if  he  did  not  from  the  first  prepare  a  hell,  it  shows 
that  he  did  not  create  any  for  misery.  No,  hell  was 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


275 


not  provided,  its  flames  were  not  kindled  at  first  for 
man,  but  for  Satan  and  his  angels.  Yet,  being  pre¬ 
pared,  the  dreadful  place  can  receive  any  other  rebels 
as  well  as  they :  and  as  sinners  league  with  them 
now,  and  do  the  works  of  the  devil,  they  must  final¬ 
ly  share  in  the  same  suffering,  in  the  same  (dace. 
The  sinner  renders  their  place  his  own  ;  and  the 
sentence  ol  the  last  day  ratifies  the  awful  ariange- 
ment. 

And  who  can  tell  the  terrible  import  of  this  curse  ! 
A  curse  uttered  by  God  :  by  the  lips  ot  him  whose 
supreme  delight  it  is  to  bless !  What  must  sin  be, 
that  it  can  force  a  curse  from  infinite  goodness ;  that 
it  can  move  the  divine  temperament  to  displeasure  ; 
that  it  can  make  it  an  appropriate  act,  a  worthy,  be¬ 
coming,  and  even  godlike  act  for  infinite  love  to  ut¬ 
ter  a  malediction  on  the  work  ol  his  own  hands! 
And  such  a  malediction !  Every  accent  is  lighten¬ 
ing;  every  word  is  loaded  with  misery,  is  lull  ol  per¬ 
dition.  It  is  a  sentence,  every  clause  ol  which  adds 
a  hell  to  the  misery  already  denounced,  till  it  rea¬ 
ches  the  climax  of  woe — a  sentence  in  which  one  vial 
after  another  of  Almighty  wrath  is  poured  out,  till 
the  whole  is  discharged  ;  the  wrath  of  God  distilled 
— a  sentence,  in  which  are  gathered  up,  and  com¬ 
pressed  into  one,  all  the  curses  ot  God,  requiting  an 
eternity  to  comprehend  and  exhaust  them.  But  it  is 
not  for  tongue  to  describe  it ;  it  is  for  the  heart  to 
ponder,  for  the  imagination  to  conceive;  and  muse 
on  it  the  most  fertile  conception  may,  without  any 
danger  of  excess.  Then  first  will  the  ungodly  know 
what  is  meant  by  punishment.  Then  will  they  begin 
to  estimate  truly  the  dreadful  nature  ot  their  situa¬ 
tion.  And  oh  !  when  the  prospect  shall  first  open 
upon  them,  when  they  shall  find  that  God  himself  is 
against  them,  when  they  shall  hear  themselves  out¬ 
lawed  by  divine  proclamation,  when  they  shall  find 
that  on  God  saying  depart,  every  thing  else,  every 
being,  every  place,  but  hell,  shall  repeat  depart  ;  cast¬ 
ing  them  forth,  disowning,  refusing  them  sympathy 


276 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

and  refuge  ;  when  they  shall  feel  that  the  curse  is 
made  to  enter  and  possess  the  very  center  of  their 
being  ;  that  it  is  not  a  mere  stigma  branded  on  their 
foreheads,  but  a  substantial  curse,  written  upon  their 
hearts  in  characters  of  living  fire  ;  burnt  in,  scorch¬ 
ing  and  consuming  their  immortality;  that  they  have 
the  wrath  of  God  ior  a  soul,  will  they  not  call  on  uni¬ 
versal  nature  to  mourn  with  them  to  aid  them  in  ex¬ 
pressing  their  mighty  grief,  to  assist  them  in  bewail¬ 
ing  the  immensity  and  eternity  of  their  loss  ? 

“  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish¬ 
ment  :  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.”  Then 
the  future  punishment  of  the  finally  impenitent  will 
be  eternal.  “  They  shall  not  see  life;”  “their  worm 
dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched.”  If  they 
continued  to  deteriorate  here  under  a  remedial  econ¬ 
omy  of  grace,  is  their  character  likely  to  be  amelio¬ 
rated  in  a  state  where  all  the  elements  of  universal 
evil  shall  be  collected  and  combined  together  ? 
Whatever  may  be  the  punishment  inflicted  upon 
them  from  without,  it  is  certain  its  sting  will  be  sup¬ 
plied  from  an  angry  conscience,  and  its  hottest  fer¬ 
vors  from  the  inkiudled  passions  within  them ;  and 
as  these  belong  to  the  soul,  as  they  number  among 
its  essential  qualities,  they  will  be  immortal  like  the 
soul  itself.  And  not  only  has  our  Lord  employed 
the  same  term  to  denote  the  duration  of  misery, 
which  he  has  applied  to  the  duration  of  happiness, 
thus  implying  that  they  will  be  parallel  to  each 
other ;  not  only  has  he  employed  positive  terms, 
which,  indeed,  may  be  understood  in  various  degrees 
of  latitude  ;  he  has  also  used  negative  terms,  and  a 
negation  admits  of  no  degrees  ;  he  has  spoken  of  fu¬ 
ture  punishment  as  a  state  of  endless  privation.  He 
has  threatened  it  as  the  worst  evil,  the  consummation 
of  all  evil ;  but  if  it  were  temporary  and  remedial,  if 
it  meant  only  a  quantum  of  suffering  bearing  a  rela 
tion  to  eventual  happiness,  it  should  rather  be  spoken 
of,  like  the  present  afflictions  of  the  righteous,  not 
in  the  language  of  threatening,  but  of  promise.  Biu 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


277 


“  the  wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish¬ 
ment:”  and  though  it  may  now  be  impossible,  with 
our  present  human  feelings  and  limited  faculties,  to 
comprehend  the  idea;  for  aught  we  know  the  exis¬ 
tence  of  eternal  misery  may  hereafter  be  shown  not 
only  to  consist  with,  but  to  be  even  the  necessary  ef¬ 
fect  of  a  perfect  government,  and  of  supreme  good- 

ness.  •  i 

But  while  ultimate  justice  shall  be  conducting  the 
wicked  away  into  everlasting  darkness,  what  shall 
become  of  the  righteous?  They  will  be  severed 
from  the  heirs  of  wrath,  as  far  as  heaven  and  hell 
asunder.  Our  Lord  teaches  us  that  “they  shall  see 
God whether  the  bodily  eye  shall  share  in  the  vis¬ 
ion  or  not,  may  probably  depend  on  the  degree  m 
which  their  material  part  shall  be  refined  and  made 
spiritual ;  but  they  shall  see  him  with  that  which  is 
the  true  organ  of  sight  in  divine  things,  the  renewed 
heart;  they  shall  behold  every  feature  of  his  image 
reflected  in  the  mirror  of  their  purified  nature. 
They  shall  be  “  equal  unto  the  angels ;  they  shall  be 
able  to  approach  as  closely  to  the  throne  of  God, 
and  to  gaze  as  steadfastly  on  the  unveiled  splendors 
of  that  throne  :  they  will  be  able  to  fill  eveiy  office 
that  angels  fill,  to  soar  to  equal  heights,  and  to  main¬ 
tain  as  untiring  a  flight  in  the  service  of  God  ;  they 
will  in  every  way  be  worthy  of  the  angelic  brother¬ 
hood,  and  able  to  run  with  them  in  the  race  of  di¬ 
vine  perfection.  They  shall  then  “be  with  him 
where  he  is,  to  behold  his  glory  ;”  to  be  conducted 
by  him  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  gloiy ,  to  see 
him  throw  open  and  bring  out  all  the  glory  that  is 
peculiarly  his ;  to  be  the  objects  on  which  that  glory 
shall  fall  and  accumulate  :  to  have  their  nature  wed¬ 
ded  to  happiness  and  him  for  ever.  Then  shall  hi 
ardent  desire  be  gratified,  “that  they  all  may  be  one 
in  him  by  being  one  in  all,  he  will  make  all  one  , 
by  being  all  in  every  part,  he  will  become  the  unity 
of  the  whole  ;  so  that  they  shall  ever  be  viewed,  and 
spoken  of,  and  treated  as  one  with,  and  a  pait  of 
1  24 


278 


TIIE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

himself.  “  Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as 
the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father  in  a  world 
where  all  is  splendor  they  shall  yet  distinctly  shine, 
shine  as  suns  forever  and  ever. 

We  shall  conclude  this  section  of  our  subject  with 
two  remarks.  First,  although  the  revelation  of  our 
immortality  is  not  the  specific  object  of  the  gospel, 
yet  hy  combining  it  with  the  knowledge  of  salvation, 
our  Lord  has  made  it  what  no  mere  human  philoso¬ 
phy  could  have  done,  a  guiding  principle  of  life.  He 
lias  made  it  the  Pharos  of  the  universe  ;  it  is  true  in¬ 
deed,  that,  prior  to  his  coming,  his  colossal  truth  ex¬ 
isted  ;  but  it  lay  prostrate  on  the  earth,  an  undefined 
rough-hewn  mass,  creating  shadow  instead  of  light ; 
while  the  majority  of  those  who  viewed  it  could  only 
speculate  about  the  uses  to  which  it  might  be  appli¬ 
ed.  But  our  Lord,  having  given  it  an  angel-form, 
upreared  its  gigantic  stature  to  the  skies,  kindled  its 
beacon  fire,  and  placed  it  in  a  line  with  the  haven  of 
eternity  ;  that  by  flinging  its  warning  light  across  the 
dark  and  perilous  ocean  of  life,  it  might  enable  the 
endangered  voyagers  to  reach  the  port  of  futurity  in 
peace.  And  how  many,  in  every  age,  by  steering  in 
the  track  of  its  radiance,  have  outlived  the  billows 
and  perils  of  the  deep,  anti  at  length  “  escaped  safe 
to  land.” 

Our  second  remark  is,  that  in  his  representations 
of  the  last  day,  our  Lord  appears  to  set  no  bounds  to 
his  estimate  of  his  own  importance  to  man.  When 
we  hear  him  announce,  “1  am  the  light  of  the  world,” 
even  then  we  cannot  forbear  exclaiming,  “  What 
must  be  the  dignity  of  him  who  can  thus  stand  up  and 
say,  in  the  face  of  the  sun,  “I  compare  claims  with 
that  great  source  and  element  of  light what  must 
be  his  own  conception  of  his  greatness  and  value, 
when  he  can  thus  seek  to  eclipse  the  noon-day  sun, 
and  challenge  for  himself  the  attention  of  the  world  ! 
But  in  his  representations  of  the  last  day,  he  makes 
himself  the  light  of  both  worlds,  the  center  of  the 
universe.  Now  what  must  be  his  own  idea  of  his 


HIS  ORIGINALITY. 


27D 


ability  and  worth,  that  having  unveiled  so  tremen¬ 
dous  a  scene,  lie  should  have  made  himself  the  cen¬ 
tral  object  ?  What  must  be  his  own  estimate  of  the 
saving  power  of  his  gospel,  that  he  should  select  the 
awful  amphitheatre  of  the  judgment  in  which  to  try 
its  efficacy  ;  that  he  should  deem  it  an  antidote  for  in¬ 
finite  terror,  the  terrors  of  the  last  day  ?  Had  he  sup¬ 
posed  its  efficacy  was  limited,  he  would  have  made 
its  limit  the  measure  of  his  disclosures  of  the  judg¬ 
ment  day.  He  would  have  been  silent  concerning 
many  of  its  most  alarming  features,  lie  would  have 
lifted  the  veil  with  a  guarded  hand,  lest  by  raising  it 
to  its  utmost  height,  he  should  awaken  fears  beyond 
his  power  to  allay.  But,  in  the  lull  confidence  ot  its 
efficacy  to  sustain  and  save,  he  rolls  back  the  face  ol 
his  throne,  summons  mankind  before  him,  calls  foi 
his  thunders,  and  the  ministers  of  his  wrath,  uncov¬ 
ers  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless  pit ;  and,  while  jus¬ 
tice  is  in  its  full  career  of  punishment,  he  throws 
over  his  people  the  shield  ol  his  favor,  and  canopies 
them  with  an  almighty  grace.  Well  can  he  afford  to 
disclose  the  utmost  terrors  of  that  day,  for  he  feels 
that  he  is  able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost;  he  knows 
that  even  now  lie  can  pluck  from  the  mind  a  sting  ol 
conscious  guilt,  and  replace  it  with  a  peace  passing 
all  understanding,  thus  enabling  his  disciples  to  long 
and  look  for  his  appearing ;  he  knows  that  then,  while 
all  the  guilty  shall  wail  because  of  him,  his  people, 
upheld  by  his  grace,  shall  rise  superior  to  dismay, 
and  shalfonly  recognize  in  the  pomp  and  grandeur 
of  the  scene,  the  celebration  of  their  own  triumph, 
and  occasions  for  their  joy.  The  saved  and  the  lost 
will  then  meet  together  for  the  last  time  in  conti  ast 
before  his  throne.  And  as  it  will  be  the  last  time  the 
righteous  will  be  able  to  triumph  on  so  large  a  scale 
before  the  intermediate  eyes  ot  the  wicked  ;  and  as 
the  scene  will  be  enacted  partly  to  make  that  triumph 
complete,  we  may  be  assured  that  every  thing  else 
will  tend  to  crown  their  glory  with  perfection.  Sin 
will  have  reached  maturity  in  the  wicked,  and  pre- 


280 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


pared  them  for  hell  ;  holiness  will  have  attained  ma¬ 
turity  in  the  righteous,  and  prepared  them  for  hea¬ 
ven  ;  and  when  the  purity  and  beauty,  the  joy  and 
glory  on  the  right  hand,  shall  be  seen  in  immediate 
contrast  with  the  awful  array  on  the  left,  all  will  ac¬ 
knowledge  that  the  salvation  of  his  people  as  there 
displayed  is  a  worthy  result  of  all  his  stupendous 
plans,  and  abundantly  exceeds  all  the  lofty  things  he 
has  spoken  concerning  them.  In  that  one  scene 
shall  be  combined,  the  consummation  of  all  the  plans 
of  time,  the  rehearsal  of  all  the  glories  of  eternity. 
Oh,  who  can  revere  him  too  profoundly,  love  him  too 
ardently,  or  rely  on  him  too  confidently. 


ESSAY  ILL 

SPIRITUALITY  OF  OUR  LORD’S  TEACHING, 

“The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  are  spirit  and  life.” 

1.  The  doctrine  of  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  na¬ 
ture,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  to  assert  and  preserve  it  was  one  of  the 
avowed  designs  of  the  Jewish  economy.  But  the 
frequency  with  which  it  became  necessary  tor  God  to 
republish  and  defend  the  doctrine,  showed  how  un¬ 
known  and  uncongenial  it  is  to  the  unenlightened 
mind  of  man,  and  how  difficult  to  maintain  it  in  com¬ 
bination  with  an  economy  of  carnal  ordinances.  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  for  some  time  prior  to  the  advent 
of  Christ,  the  Jews  had  not  so  entirely  lost  it  as  to  re¬ 
lapse  into  the  worship  of  idols;  yet,  short  of dH 
their  views  of  God  were  at  perfect  variance  with  the 
belief  of  his  spiritual  nature.  Divesting  him  of  all  th 
properties  peculiar  to  that  nature,  the  popular  creed 
portrayed  him  as  circumscribed  in  Ins  essence,  and 
local  in  his  residence,  with  a  jurisdiction  which  dis¬ 
pensed  with  the  inward  homage  of  the  heait,  and 
which  only  took  cognizance  of  outward  acts. 

But  if,  in  the  prevailing  belief  of  the  Jews,  the 
Deitv  was  only  almost ;  in  that  of  the  heathen  world 
he  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  themselves  I  hey 
had  gradually  disqualified  themselves  for  all  vntue, 
and  prepared  themselves  for  the  commission  of  eve¬ 
ry  vice,  by  debasing  him  to  a  level  with  themselves, 
and  ascribing  to  him  the  attributes  of  a  corporeal  be- 
ing.  God— the  invisible,  the  almighty,  the  omni¬ 

present,  the  omniscient  Spirit— was  not  in  all  their 
thoughts.  What  an  awful  vacuity !  lie  was  exclud¬ 
ed  from  his  own  world ;  lost  to  Ins  intelligent  crea- 
24* 


282 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


tures  ;  while  his  place  was  occupied  with  the  fictions 
of  human  fancy,  and  beings  of  material  form. 

“  God  is  a  spirit such  is  the  simple  announce¬ 
ment  by  which  Jesus  dispersed  the  legions  of  idola¬ 
trous  error,  and  restored  God  to  the  world.  This 
was  the  fundamental  principle  of  his  theology.  In 
harmony  with  its  importance,  he  taught  it  in  every 
stage  of  his  ministry,  and  in  all  varieties  of  form. 
The  God  he  proclaimed  is  all-knowing  and  every 
where  present,  and  to  whom  all  things  are  possible  ; 
a  being  whom  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see,  and 
who  requires  to  be  worshiped  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ; 
whose  new  evangelical  kingdom  upon  earth  is  to  be 
seated  in  the  human  soul,  having  spiritual  laws  en¬ 
forced  by  spiritual  sanctions,  and  administered  by  the 
agency  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  By  thus  attesting  the 
Spirituality  of  the  divine  nature,  and  making  it  a  fun¬ 
damental  doctrine  of  his  gospel,  our  Lord  lifted  the 
mind  of  man  from  earth  to  heaven  ;  provided  against 
all  our  tendencies  to  materialize  and  debase  religion  ; 
furnished  a  motive  for  every  virtue  ;  kindled  in  his 
church  a  central,  all-pervading  light :  and  animated 
all  piety  with  a  living  soul. 

II.  Agreeably  to  the  spirituality  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  him  as 
his  spiritual  offspring,  in  exercising  the  prerogative  of 
lawgiver  he  had  legislated  for  the  soul.  Human  laws 
for  reasons  the  most  obvious,  can  only  take  cogniz¬ 
ance  of  outward  acts.  But  even  the  positive  rites  of 
the  Jewish  code  however  carnal  in  their  nature,  and 
temporary  in  their  obligation,  were  specifically  de¬ 
signed  and  constructed  for  the  soul ;  while  of  the 
moral  law,  the  soul  was  the  proper  sphere,  the  pecu¬ 
liar  province  of  jurisdiction ;  it  claims  authority  over 
actions  oidy  as  they  are  the  motions  and  expressions 
of  the  in-dwelling  soul.  It  is,  in  effect,  the  voice  of 
God  speaking  to  the  soul,  and  /or  it ;  giving  utterance 
and  energy  to  the  enlightened  and  original  dictates  of 
the  man  ivithin.  But  in  entire  oblivion  or  open  defi- 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


283 


ance  of  its  spiritual  nature,  the  Jews  had  made  it 
of  none  effect  by  their  tradition.”  Having  dethroned 
and  dismissed  it  from  within,  they  limited  its  juns 
diction  to  the  outward  life,  guarding  every  avenue 
by  which  it  might  return  and  resume  its  seat  by 
trivial  ceremony,  or  a  precarious  tradition.  And  not 
onlv  so  they  bought  themselves  off  at  pleasure,  from 
even  an  outward  observance  of  the  moral  law,  pur¬ 
chased  a  dispensation  to  transgress  it,  at  the  easy 
Drice  of  a  little  punctiliousness  in  the  ritual  worship. 
Thus  discredited  and  disowned,  its  authority  was 
merely  nominal ;  and  the  only  rank  it  was  permitted 
to  take  was  below  the  emptiest  superstition. 

But  Jesus  came  to  its  rescue  ;  restored  to  d 
spirit  and  office  which,  m  their  hands,  it  had  lost. 
The  tables  of  the  law,  prostrate  and  defaced,  and 
overlaid  with  the  long-accumulated  dust  and  rubbis 
of  rabbinical  lore,  lie  drew  forth  and  again  setup  . 
„rfi  retracing  their  characters  afresh,  as  with  the  n 
geroTSfe  purity, be  republished 1  .hem  ™<h  an 
authority  and  effect  which  the  fires  of  Sinai  i  ekind 

led  could  not  have  increased.  As  expounded  an  - 

forced  by  his  lips,  especially  in  his  sermon  on  the 
mount  they  not  only  retrieved  their  original  honors, 
but  acqS  a  more  perfectly  reasoned  and  nndem- 
able  title  to  rule  and  reign  in  the  heait.  He  clamiecl 
for  the  operation  of  the  divine  law,  a  scope  and  spac 
as* fine  and  unbounded  as  ft.  essence  He 

showed  that,  like  the  elementrf  «re,  it  is  not  o  y 
nrpsent  where  it  is  grossly  visible,  but  that  it  is  an 
pervading  ;  that,  with  a  lidless  and  unslumbernig  eye 
Us  'aze  is  fixed  on  all  the  thoughts  and  ways  of  the 
wo?ld-  that  it  beholds  nothing  of  an  indifferent  na¬ 
ture  in  the  whole  scene  ;  but  that  notmg,  discnmi- 
nating  and  weighing  all  things,  it  every  where  and 
fevSy  thing  discovers  the  elements  of  good  or  evil, 
approving  or  condemning  whatever  transpires.  Open¬ 
ing  the  dark  and  secret  chambers  of  the i  heart  he 
showed  it  there  searching  for  sin,  having 
torch  the  sword  of  avenging  justice,  with  which 


284 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


flashed  on  the  face  of  conscience  as  it  passed,  and 
detected  sins  which  had  not  yet  dared  to  come  forth 
in  action.  He  showed  it  there,  discovering  and  ar¬ 
raigning  evil  in  its  first  rudiments ;  rage,  in  its  spark  ; 
licentiousness,  in  its  first  glance  ;  and  murder  am¬ 
bushed  in  an  unbreathed  and  unsuspected  thought : 
sin  in  its  seed,  concealing  the  coming  transgression, 
enclosing  the  future  hell. 

So  multiplied  were  the  subdivisions,  and  so  mi¬ 
nute  the  gradations  of  duty,  devised  by  the  Jews,  that 
the  obligations  of  holiness  were  well-nigh  forgotten, 
in  endless  disputes  about  the  comparative  impor¬ 
tance  and  precedence  of  its  several  branches.  Mo¬ 
rality,  as  a  practice,  was  in  danger  of  being  sentenced 
to  wait,  till  morality,  as  a  science,  should  be  com¬ 
plete  ;  till  they  should  succeed  in  the  hopeless  task 
of  determining  the  merits,  and  adjusting  the  claims  of 
its  respective  partk,  so  as  to  give  it  the  scholastic  air 
of  a  system.  Resolving  their  endless  distinctions  of 
duty  into  two  classes,  our  Lord  not  only  declared 
which  is  the  first  and  great  command,  fie  showed 
them  that  the  principle  of  all  obedience,  and  the 
substance  of  all  law,  are  essentially  the  same  ;  that 
love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  He  taught  that  “all 
the  law  and  the  prophets,”  all  the  duties  enjoined 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  are  resolvable  into 
this  as  their  life  and  essence :  and  that,  consequent¬ 
ly,  wherever  this  principle  exists,  though  the  subjects 
of  it  may  be  ignorant  that  such  duties  have  been  for¬ 
mally  enjoined,  it  would  by  the  necessity  of  its  na¬ 
ture  unfold  and  expand,  putting  forth  all  the  fruits  and 
beauties  of  holiness:  that  it  is  the  principle  which  is 
in  the  stead  of  law,  and  the  fulfillment  of  all  law. 

And  to  the  law  of  God  thus  explained  and  en¬ 
forced,  he  put  the  seal  of  eternity.  In  the  hands  of 
the  Jews,  it  had  been  made  to  vary  its  demands,  ac¬ 
commodating  its  requirements  to  the  changing  tem¬ 
perature  of  times  and /circumstances ;  but  as  the 
principles  on  which  it  rests  can  know  no  change,  he 
proclaimed  its  immutability.  “For  verily  T  say  unto 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


285 


you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one jot  ■ or  one^iUle 
shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled. 
Having  raised  and  restored  it  to  all  its  original  claims, 
he  published  it  anew  as  the  rule  of  our  spiritual  na¬ 
ture  ;  the  perfect,  universal,  and  perpetual  standaid, 
to  which  the  entire  man  must  be  conformed. 

III.  From  his  exposition  of  the  moral  law,  it  is  only 
a  short  and  easy  transition  to  the  spiritual  character 
which  his  teaching  prescribed  for. 

1  The  worship  of  God.  There  is  a  sense  in  which 
spiritual  devotion  stands  opposed  to  that  which  is  to- 
cal.  Among  the  many  restrictions  pecuhai  to  the 
Jewish  economy,  one  was,  that  after  the  erection  oi 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  it  became  impious  to  pet- 
form  certain  rites  at  any  other  place.  Hence  the  dif¬ 
ficulty  expressed  by  the  woman  of  Samaria,  as  to  th 
proper  place  of  devotion.  Jesus  announced  that,  by 
L  introduction  of  the  gospel,  all  such  locai  distinc¬ 
tions  would  cease,  and  that  believers  would  offei 
their  spiritual  sacrifices  wherever,  and  as  often  as 
thev  chose.  On  another  occasion  he  declared  to  his 
disciples  “  Wherever  two  or  three  are  met  together 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  thus 
asserting  the  spirituality  and  immensity  of  his  divine 
nature,  and  harmonizing  it  with  the  ^pnj>tua|  fhmac- 
ter  and  universal  extension  of  his  chuicli.  While  b> 
theHnal  commission  which  he  gave  to  h.s  disciples 
to  carry  his  gospel  into  all  nations,  lie  abrogated  the 
Saw  oflooal  sanctity,  consecrated  the  wide  world  to 
the  worship  of  God,  and  appointed  the  whole  eaith 

to  be  “the  mountain  of  holiness.” 

2.  The  spirituality  of  worship  which  Jesus  taught 
is  contradistinguished  from  ceremonial  observances. 
God  is  a  spirit,  and  the  only  devotion  compatible  with 
his  nature,  is  that  which  flows  from  the  souls  of  Ins 
worshipers.  In  prescribing  the  ritual  part  of  a  re¬ 
ligion,  he  is  to  be  regarded  as  consulting  not  the 
spirituality  of  his  own,  but  the  materiality  and  infir¬ 
mities  of  our  nature  ;  as  relaxing  the  demands  of  his 
heavenly,  to  meet  the  necessities  of  our  earthly.  But 


THE  UUEAT  TEACHER, 


286 

as  his  only  aim  in  thus  suspending  the  requirements 
which  are  proper  to  his  nature,  is  to  engage  and  as¬ 
sist  our  souls  in  his  service,  so  the  religion  which  at¬ 
tains  this  end  with  the  fewest  forms  is  regarded  by 
him  as  the  most  perfect.  It  is  more  congenial  to  his 
spiritual  nature,  and  less  ensnaring  to  our  formality. 
On  this  principle  it  is  that  the  Christian  dispensation, 
which  when  compared  with  the  Jewish,  ranks  so 
much  higher  in  moral  excellence,  was  assigned  to  the 
hands  of  Jesus  to  bestow  as  an  incomparably  better 
gift.  And  of  the  heavenly  state  where  devotion  is 
carried  to  the  highest  perfection,  John  informs  us 
that  he  saw  no  temple  therein  :  it  is  dispensed  with 
there  as  an  unnecessary  appendage.  The  worship¬ 
ers  there  are  independent  of  time,  and  place,  and 
circumstance.  By  such  restrictions  they  would  deem 
their  worship  impeded  and  disfigured.  Devotion 
there,  divested  of  all  its  earthly  vestments,  is  reduced 
to  its  pure  essential  elements.  The  soul  of  religion  en¬ 
ters  there  alone,  and  hence  the  superiority  and  per¬ 
fection  of  the  worship 

The  ritual  of  the  Jews  indeed  prescribed  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  perpetually  recurring  observances.  But, 
though  burdened  with  ceremonies,  it  was  highly  sig¬ 
nificant  of  all  that  is  spiritual  and  essential  in  the 
present  economy.  That  its  rites  were  not  necessary 
to  salvation  must  have  been  evident  to  the  reflecting 
Israelite,  from  the  fact  that  many  had  been  saved  be¬ 
fore  they  were  prescribed.  To  secure  and  vindicate 
the  spirituality  of  the  divine  worship  was  one  of  its 
chief  and  avowed  objects.  For  this  the  Almighty 
proclaimed  himself  a  jealous  God.  Hence,  too,  the 
rigorous  prohibition  of  graven  images  ;  the  certain 
and  awful  punishment  which  followed  every  lapse  in¬ 
to  idolatry ;  the  frequency  with  which  he  directed 
his  prophets  to  correct  their  formality  by  partially 
disparaging  the  appointed  forms  of  their  service, 
“  desiring  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings  by  insisting 
on  the  emptiness  of  ritual  worship,  unless  accompa 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


287 


nied  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  contrite  spirit ;  by  remind¬ 
ing  them  during  seasons  of  captivity  and  war,  when 
the  observance  of  their  rights  was  notin  their  power, 
that  if  they  still  retained  the  piety  of  the  heart,  they, 
possessed  the  essence  and  core  ot  true  religion  ;  all  oi 
which  combined  to  preserve  and  promote  the  spiritu¬ 
ality  of  their  devotion.  Piety,  indeed,  has  always  been 
composed  of  the  same  elements,  and  issued  in  the  same 
result— the  production  of  spiritual  men.  For  this,  the 
legal  economy  may  be  said  to  have  travailed  arid  been 
in  birth.  Yet,  however  laborious  the  process,  and 
elementary  the  character  it  produced,  it  could  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less.  Disowning  and  rejecting 
the  formalist  as  a  reproach,  it  acknowledged  for  its 
offspring  none  who  bore  not  its  spiritual  impress; 
and,  equally  with  the  gospel,  reserved  its  ultimate 
rewards  for  the  “  Israelite  indeed.”  Over  every  gate 
of  the  temple,  it  may  be  said  to  have  exhibited  this  in¬ 
scription,  “  He  is  not  a  Jew  who  is  one  outwardly :  nei¬ 
ther  is  that  circumcision  which  is  outward  in  the  flesh : 
but  he  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  inwardly,  and  circumci¬ 
sion  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit  and  not  in  the 
letter  ;  whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  ol  God.” 

But  though  that  economy  contemplated  the  pure 
and  cordial  worship  of  God,  yet  spirituality  was  not 
its  characteristic.  It  was  light  only  in  comparison 
with  the  surrounding  darkness  ot  ignorance  and 
idolatry.  As  viewed  from  heaven  its  devotion  must 
have  appeared  remote,  laborious,  and  material.  Its 
name,  to  be  descriptive  and  appropriate,  could  only 
be  taken  from  its  ritual  character ;  hence  it  is  de¬ 
nominated,  “  the  hand-writing  of  ordinances  “  the 
law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances 
“a  figure  for  the  time  then  present “  which  stood 
only  in  meats  and  drinks,  and  divers  washings,  and 
carnal  ordinances and  for  a  similar  reason  its  dis¬ 
ciples  called  themselves  the  temple  and  the  circumcision. 
Each  of  the  supernatural  doctrines  it  taught  was 
veiled.  It  contained  truth  only  in  the  seed  or  the 
husk.  Its  most  striking  and  instructive  parts  were 


188 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


“  only  figures  of  the  true.”  The  law  made  nothing 
perfect.  It  left  the  Adorable  himself  in  shadow. 
Like  its  own  awful  and  unapproachable  veil,  it  at 
once  contained  and  concealed-,  investing  the  spiritual 
with  material  forms,  and  placing  the  glorious  in  dis¬ 
tant  obscurity. 

But  it  was  only  meant  for  a  temporary  purpose : 
“  being  imposed  until  the  time  of  reformation”  by 
Christ.  In  the  execution  of  his  office  he  gradually 
repealed  the  whole  ceremonial.  “  Go,”  said  he,  “  and 
learn  what  that  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy  and  not 
sacrifice  ;”  thus  virtually  discountenancing  the  ritual 
of  their  religion,  he  exalted  character  into  supreme 
importance,  implying  its  independent  sufficiency,  and 
the  possibility  that  under  a  new  dispensation  it  might 
exist  alone.  By  dispensing  with  all  pomp  and  state 
in  his  own  person,  and  demanding  regeneration  as 
the  only  qualification  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  he 
taught  that  religion  was  henceforth  to  prove  its  inde¬ 
pendence  of  forms  ;  that,  dismissing  all  its  earthly 
allies  and  appendages,  it  was  to  rest  its  claims  on  its 
own  intrinsic  merits  ;  to  walk  the  earth  in  unattend¬ 
ed  majesty,  indebted  for  all  its  attractions  and  tri¬ 
umphs  to  the  invisible  Spirit  alone. 

Ilis  prediction  of  the  entire  destruction  of  the 
temple,  intimated  the  approaching  purification  of  re¬ 
ligion.  The  temple  was  the  fixed  and  only  home  of 
the  ceremonial  institute.  During  the  earlier  history 
of  that  institute  it  had  been  migratory ;  “  I  have  not, 
saith  God,  dwelt  in  any  house  since  the  time  that  I 
brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  even 
to  this  day,  but  have  walked  in  a  tent  and  in  a  taber¬ 
nacle.”  The  erection  of  the  temple  gave  to  it  locali- 
ity,  consolidation,  and  repose ;  was  the  appropriate 
token  and  promise  of  its  stability ;  and  accordingly 
around  that  sacred  fane  the  nation  settled  and  built  a 
home  in  reliance  on  that  stability.  The  unqualified 
prediction  of  its  fall  then  involved  the  abrogation  of 
its  peculiar  rites.  The  prophecy  of  its  former  demo¬ 
lition,  only  involved  the  suspension  of  these  rites; 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


289 


for  it  was  accompanied  and  even  preceded  by  a  prom¬ 
ise  of  its  restoration.  But  Jesus,  by  announcing  the 
deletion,  the  utter  erasure  of  the  temple  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  without  any  reserve  for  the  future, 
intimated  the  irrevocable  nature  of  its  fall,  the  visible 
repeal  of  the  religion  which  dwelt  in  it,  and  “  the 
bringing  in  of  a  better  hope,  by  the  which  we  draw 
nigh  unto  God.” 

By.  announcing  that  he  was  greater  than  the  tem¬ 
ple, he  virtually  displaced  it  with  all  its  contents,  and 
remained  himself  in  the  place  it  had  occupied:  and 
by  proclaiming  himself  “  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life,”  he  intimated  that  all  the  typic  rites  had  found 
their  prototype  and  fulfillment  in  himself,  and  that 
henceforth  all  the  offices  of  the  church  would  be  ab¬ 
sorbed  and  centered  in  himself  alone.  Hitherto,  the 
worship  of  God  had  been  conducted,  so  to  speak,  at 
a  distance,  believers  approaching  him  only  through 
intermediate  forms  ;  but  Jesus  annihilated  that  dis¬ 
tance  and  dispensed  with  these  forms :  supplying 
them  with  the  incense  of  his  own  name,  he  consti¬ 
tutes  each  of  them  a  spiritual  priest,  leads  them  di¬ 
rect  to  an  immediate  audience  with  God,  and,  plac¬ 
ing  them  around  the  footstool  of  mercy,  commands 
them  to  “ask  and  receive,  that  their  joy  may  be  full.” 
When  solicited  to  decide  between  the  respective 
merits  of  the  Jewish  and  Samaritan  rituals,  he  inti¬ 
mated  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  the  question 
ceased  to  be  important,  since  both  of  them  were 
about  to  be  annulled  and  superseded  ;  “  The  hour 
cometh,”  said  he,  “  and  now  is,  when  the  true  wor¬ 
shipers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  ;  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  him.” 

In  harmony  with  this  representation,  the  disciples 
of  Christ  are  distinguished  as  “  the  true  circumci¬ 
sion,  who  worship  God  in  the  spirit.”  He  introduces 
them  into  a  church  from  which  he  has  swept  every 
vestige  of  the  ancient  rites.  He  allows  them  to  re¬ 
store  none  of  these  rites,  nor  to  substitute  aught  in 
lieu  of  them,  at  the  awful  peril  of  his  displeasure. 
25 


300 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


When  they  come  into  his  courts,  he  requires  that 
nothing  be  laid  upon  his  altar  but  “  spiritual  sacrifi¬ 
ces  that  nothing  appear  before  him  but  our  spirits 
communing  with  his  Spirit.  He  looks  for  an  assem¬ 
bly  of  human  hearts,  of  naked  human  hearts  ;  and 
when  he  beholds  them  engaged,  delighted,  absorbed 
in  his  worship,  he  contemplates  an  object  far  more 
acceptable  than  the  flaming  sacrifice  of  the  whole 
material  world. 

And  the  quality  of  the  provision  which  he  has 
made  for  his  worship,  perfectly  corresponds  with  the 
spirituality  of  its  nature  and  requirements.  He  has 
placed  it  under  the  entire  superintendence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whose  aid  he  instructed  his  disciples  to 
consider  as  absolutely  necessary  and  all-sufficient. 
A  convert  from  Judaism  must  have  felt  an  amazing 
change,  in  passing  from  its  crowded  and  pompous 
ritual,  to  the  severe  simplicity  of  the  Christian  church. 
In  a  literal  sense,  he  exchanged  the  gorgeous  magni¬ 
ficence  of  the  temple  for  the  bare  and  unpretending 
plainness  of  “an  upper  room;”  and  in  a  spiritual 
point  of  view  he  did  the  same.  But  then,  among 
the  new  and  numerous  advantages  arising  from  the 
transition,  it  might  be  said  that  he  found  that  room 
to  be  within  the  veil.  He  left  the  rites  to  stand  in 
the  presence  of  the  God.  He  emerged  from  the 
cloud  of  incense  to  find  himself  alone  with  the  great 
Spirit  of  the  new  dispensation.  “  Likewise  also  the 
Spirit,  he  could  say,  helpeth  our  infirmities.”  Em¬ 
ployed  by  Jesus,  the  divine  Spirit  whom  he  departed 
to  send,  compensates  for  the  loss  of  the  material 
sanctuary  by  erecting  the  soul  of  the  believer  into  a 
living  temple.  Having  cleansed  and  made  it  conse¬ 
crate,  and  kindled  on  its  altar  a  sacred  fire,  he  him¬ 
self  condescends  to  assume  the  office  of  conducting 
its  worship.  Acting  the  part  of  its  high  priest  and 
intercessor,  he  prepares  and  presents  to  God  the 
welcome  sacrifice  of  a  broken  and  contrite  heart. 
He  calls  the  thoughts,  and  affections,  and  desires 
away  from  the  world,  and  conducts  them  like  a  band 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


301 


of  humble  worshipers  to  the  throne  of  God  ;  con¬ 
straining  the  soul  and  all  that  is  within  it  to  bless 
and  praise  his  holy  name. 

3.  Another  species  of  worship  to  which  spirit¬ 
ual  and  acceptable  devotion  is  opposed,  is  that 
which  is  prescribed  by  human  authority.  Destitute 
of  that  faith  which  ranges  the  invisible  world,  and 
which  makes  the  interior  of  the  temple  above  its 
own,  the  Jews  sought  to  supply  the  defect  by  per¬ 
petually  multiplying  the  objects  and  observances  of 
their  earthly  temple.  Being  prevented,  by  the  un¬ 
changeable  nature  of  their  constitution,  from  cultivat¬ 
ing  the  science  of  civil  legislation  ;  and  by  the  intru¬ 
sion  of  foreign  domination,  from  the  exercise  of  the 
highest  executive  powers,  religion  was  doomed  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  undivided  attentions  of  worldly  ambition  ; 
the  temple  was  the  great  national  valve  through 
which  that  principle,  which  loves  to  enact  and  create, 
found  an  escape.  But  to  add  to  the  appointments 
of  God  in  religion,  to  legislate  where  he  has  been 
legislating  before,  is  to  imply  that  we  understand 
the  wants  and  niceties  of  our  human  and  the  le- 
quirements  of  his  divine  nature,  better  than  he 
does,  and  are  more  concerned  to  meet  them.  It 
is  to  set  up  our  throne  by  his  throne,  and  to  imply 
that  we  possess  authority  to  bind  the  conscience 
and  control  the  heart.  Besides,  so  comprehen¬ 
sive  and  perfect  are  the  divine  appointments, 
however  few  and  simple  they  may  seem,  that  it  is 
impossible  for  man  to  introduce  additions  without 
in  some  way  deranging  and  displacing  these  prior  ap¬ 
pointments,  and  doing  violence  to  some  part  of  hu¬ 
man  nature.  If  his  petty  parasitical  additions  take 
root,  they  gradually  shade  and  overtop  the  original 
ordinances  of  God,  depriving  them  of  all  that  reve¬ 
rence  of  soul  which  is  the  appropriate  soil  of  religion, 
and  which  belongs  to  it  alone.  If  on  the  other  hand, 
they  incur  the  neglect  their  origin  deserves,  they  are 
likely  to  involve  the  religion  about  which  they  have 
entwined  in  the  same  undistinguishing  contempt. 


THF.  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Hence,  said  Jesus,  “  Every  plant  which  my  heavenly 
Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up.”  Ar¬ 
raigning  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  the  profane 
usurpers  of  religious  authority,  he  demanded,  “Why 
do  ye  transgress  the  commandment  of  God  by  your 
tradition?”  And  having  cited  a  single  instance  of 
their  impiety,  he  added,  “  Thus  have  ye  made  the 
commandment  of  God  of  none  effect  by  your  tradi¬ 
tion.  Ye  hypocrites,  well  did  Esaias  prophesy  of 
you  saying,  This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me  with 
their  mouth,  and  honoreth  me  with  their  lips ;  but 
their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But  in  vain  do  they  wor¬ 
ship  me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments 
of  men.” 

Piety,  or  religious  obedience,  is  a  virtue  in  the 
sight  of  God,  only  as  it  is  a  compliance  with  his  au¬ 
thority  ;  so  that  for  man  to  assume  the  power  of  pre¬ 
scribing,  is  to  make  virtue  impossible  :  it  is  to  poison 
duty  at  the  fountainhead  ;  to  turn  the  waters  of  the 
sanctuary  into  an  element  of  impurity  and  death. 
To  save  his  purer  religion  from  this  deadly  ingredi¬ 
ent — that  is,  if  any  language  could  have  saved  it — 
not  only  did  Jesus  institute  a  more  spiritual  worship, 
and  one  therefore  less  liable  to  combine  with  human 
admixtures,  he  proclaims  its  entireness  and  sufficien¬ 
cy,  and  his  own  exclusive  authority  in  the  church. 
To  those  who  would  convert  his  house  into  a  battle- 
mented  and  frowning  fortress,  he  addresses  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  mild  remonstrance,  and  says,  “ye  know  not 
what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.”  “  The  Son  of 
man  came  not  to  destroy  men’s  lives,  but  to  save 
them.”  “Put  up  the  sword  again  into  its  place.” 
“If  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world  then  would  my 
servants  fight,  but  now  is  it  not  from  hence.”  Strip¬ 
ping  off  the  tinsel  trappings,  with  which  men  in 
their  love  for  pomp  and  show  would  fain  adorn  his 
spiritual  throne,  he  reminds  them  that  his  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world.  He  authoritatively  silences  the 
lowest  tone,  the  first  syllable,  of  human  legislation 
in  his  worship,  by  proclaiming,  “  One  is  your  master, 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


303 


even  Christ ;  and  ail  ye  are  brethren.”  On  conducting 
the  Gentile  world  into  his  church,  his  disciples  were 
to  inculcate  the  observance  of  his  commands,  and 
his  alone : — “  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  — this  is,  at  once, 
the  ample  extent,  and  the  well  defined  limits  ol  the 
evangelical  commission.  Drawing  around  his  church 
a  line  of  spiritual  interdiction,  he  requires  that  be¬ 
fore  it  be  crossed,  every  badge  of  authority  be  laid 
aside,  that  every  high  thing  which  exaltetli  itself  be 
left  without,  and  allows  nothing  to  obtain  currency 
and  acceptance  as  devotion  within,  which  does  not 
bear  the  mintage  and  impress  of  his  image,  the  su¬ 
perscription  of  his  name. 

4.  And  the  spirituality  of  devotion  which  Jesus 
taught  is  opposed  to  that  which  is  formal  and  insin¬ 
cere.  In  religion  the  heart  is  every  thing  -•  h  the 
heart  be  absent  from  the  worship  of  God,  the  man  is 
absent ;  or,  what  is  worse,  the  Omniscient  beholds, 
in  the  stead  of  a  sincere  worshiper,  a  piece  of  sol- 
emn  formality  going  through  the  attitudes  and  signs 
of  devotion,  and  even  uttering  the  affecting  language 
of  confession,  supplication,  and  praise,  but  entnely 
devoid  of  any  corresponding  emotions  within.  He 
beholds  moreover,  in  the  rights  of  such  worship,  an 
array  of  spiritual  idols:  of  means  con  veiled  into 
ends :  of  forms  erected  into  objects  of  trust,  sup¬ 
planting  him  and  substituted  in  his  stead,  robbing 
him  of  the  homage  which  is  due  unto  his  name. 
The  idols  of  the  heathen  stood  between  earth  and 
heaven,  obscuring  the  vision  of  God,  intercepting 
and  appropriating  the  mounting  incense  which 
should  have  ascended  to  the  eternal  throne.  The 
rites  of  the  formalist  are  his  spiritual  idols  ;  instead 
of  leading  his  thoughts  onwards  to  God,  they  stand 
between  him  and  the  professed  object  of  his  worship, 
concealing  God  from  his  view,  engrossing  his  soul 
to  themselves,  and  leaving  behind  them  a  feeling  of 
satisfaction  simply  because  they  have  been  revered 
and  observed. 


25* 


304 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


By  attesting  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  nature, 
our  Lord  taught  that  the  heart  is  indispensable  in  de¬ 
votion.  For  if  God  be  a  spirit,  it  follows  that  our 
worship,  to  be  acceptable,  must  correspond  with  his 
nature.  Accordingly,  when  we  come  before  him,  he 
requires  that  the  soul,  the  noblest  part  of  our  nature, 
should  do  him  homage  ;  that  our  thoughts  should  re¬ 
late  to  him,  our  affections  embrace  him,  that  our 
spiritual  nature  should  go  forth  and  seek  communion 
with  him :  nor  can  he  be  imposed  on  by  mere  forms 
and  semblances,  for,  being  spirit,  he  is  perfectly  ac¬ 
quainted  with  all  other  spirits :  intimately,  and  al¬ 
ways  present  with  them. 

If  devotion  be  regarded  as  the  use  and  application 
of  a  spiritual  remedy,  the  Saviour  taught  the  same 
important  lesson,  by  describing  the  heart  as  the  seat 
of  our  moral  disease.  “  Out  of  the  heart,”  said  he, 

“proceed  evil  thoughts, . these  are  the  things 

which  defile  a  man  ;  but  to  eat  bread  with  unwashed 
hands,  this  defileth  not  a  man.”  The  heart  then  is 
the  source  of  moral  defilement;  not  only  does  it  origi¬ 
nate  all  the  evil  which  appears  in  the  life,  it  must 
plead  guilty  to  a  mass  of  evil  which  never  comes 
forth  into  the  conduct;  the  ungodliness  that  appears 
in  the  life,  is  barely  the  overflowings  of  an  ungodly 
jieart.  It  originates  many  a  thought  which  the 
tongue  never  breathes  in  the  softest  whisper  ;  and 
many  a  desire  which  is  smothered  in  the  birth  as  too 
monstrous  to  see  the  day  ;  and  purposes  without 
number,  for  which  the  darkness  of  night  would  be 
too  light  and  the  secrecy  of  solitude  too  public. 
Well  may  the  prophet  exclaim,  in  allusion  to  its 
desperate  wickedness,  “  Who  can  know  it  ?”  it  has 
intricacies,  which  no  other  creature  can  penetrate  ; 
recesses,  which  the  man  himself  cannot  explore ; 
depths  which  God  alone  is  able  to  fathom.  It  is 
there  that  error  takes  it  rise  as  from  a  fountain,  and 
thence  all  the  streams  of  error  are  constantly  fed. 
There  it  is  that  sin  sows  its  poisonous  seed  as  in 
ground  prepared  for  its  reception,  and  where  it.  is 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


305 


sure  to  take  root.  There  it  is  that  malice  muses  its 
deep-laid  projects  of  revenge;  that  lust  revels  in 
thoughts  of  sensual  indulgence  ;  that  treachery  plots 
and  cherishes  its  dark  designs.  It  is  in  the  heart 
that  the  fool  savs  what  he  fears  to  utter  with  his 
tongue,  “No  God.”  There  it  is  that  scepticism  har¬ 
bors  its  hard  thoughts  of  God,  and  that  our  natural 
enmity  against  him  finds  a  Lome.  It  is  the  treasury 
of  sin,  where  all  its  resources  are  kept  against  the 
hour  of  opportunity.  It  is  the  hiding-place  of  sin, 
where  it  often  lurks  unknown  to  us,  and  whence  it 
frequently  steals  forth  and  takes  us  by  surprise.  It 
is  the  first  place  which  sin  enters,  and  the  last  which 
it  leaves  ;  for  sin  not  only  takes  up  its  abode  in  the 
heart  before  it  appears  in  the  conduct,  but  how  often 
does  it  occur  that  after  sin  has  been  banished  from 
the  outward  life  it  only  retires  back  again  and  hides 
itself  in  the  heart.  Having  taken  up  a  commanding 
position  in  the  heart,  and  fortified  and  entrenched  it¬ 
self  there,  it  mocks  every  effort  made  to  dislodge  it, 
which  does  not  reach  and  shake  the  very  center  ol 
our  being. 

Religion  then,  the  antagonist  force  which  is  to  ex¬ 
pel  sin  from  our  nature,  must  be  conveyed  into  the 
same  seat,  must  meet  the  enemy  on  its  own 
ground,  must  attack  and  vanquish  it  in  its  strong¬ 
hold.  “  Make  the  tree  good,”  saith  Christ,  “and  the 
fruit  will  be  good.”  Our  visible  piety  must  be  the 
fruit  of  a  tree  whose  roots  are  struck  deep  in  the 

The  loftiest  distinction  in  his  kingdom  he  reserved 
for  the  pure  in  heart.  According  to  a  law  in  nature 
which  universally  prevails,  a  change  in  the  constitu¬ 
tion  of  any  creature  is  followed  by  a  corresponding 
change  in  his  condition.  When  changed  from  pol¬ 
lution  to  purity,  his  people  shall  be  blessed  by  purity, 
be  brought  into  the  presence  of  celestial  purity,  be 
beloved  by  infinite  purity,  shall  ascend  to  the  beatific 
vision  of  God  as  to  their  original  birthright.  ^  “  Bless¬ 
ed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see  God.” 


30G 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


While  leading  his  disciples  into  the  presence  of 
God,  he  impressed  on  them  what  they  were  chiefly 
to  implore  ;  they  were  to  solicit  that  all-comprehend¬ 
ing  gift,  the  Holy  Spirit:  a  gift  which,  from  its  very 
nature,  would  demand  their  heart  for  the  place  of  its 
reception.  And  if  it  bo  found  impossible,  owing  to 
a  fixed  and  infallible  law  of  our  being,  to  associate 
even  with  a  fellow-mortal  without  receiving  moral 
modification,  a  degree  of  assimilation  to  his  charac¬ 
ter,  how  can  the  supreme,  the  ever-active  and  all-as¬ 
similating  Spirit,  take  up  his  abode  in  the  midst  of 
our  nature  without  changing  the  heart  and  conform¬ 
ing  it  to  his  own  holiness. 

Placing  himself  between  the  mercy-seat  and  the 
crowd  of  heartless  worshipers  that  beset  it,  he 
shamed  their  vain  ostentation,  silenced  their  endless 
repetitions,  and  lifting  up  the  drapery  of  the  breast, 
he  showed  them  to  themselves  hollow  and  heartless, 
and  dismissed  them  with  denunciations  instead  of 
blessings.  Having  removed  the  hypocritical  throng, 
he  sought  to  surround  the  footstool  of  grace  with  Is¬ 
raelites  indeed.  To  engage  their  affections  in  pray¬ 
er,  he  taught  them  to  call  the  Being  they  addressed 
by  the  endearing  name  of  Father ;  thus  allaying 
their  fears,  and  awakening  and  consecrating  their 
filial  instincts  to  devotion.  To  call  forth  the  ardor  of 
their  souls,  he  held  up  a  prize  of  prayer  before  their 
eyes;  gave  to  it  the  most  alluring  names  ;  called  it 
imperishable  wealth — good  things— the  Holy  Spirit 
— eternal  life  ;  or,  as  though  no  language  could  de¬ 
scribe  the  efficacy  he  would  assign  to  prayer,  he  as¬ 
sured  them  that  ask  what  they  would  it  should  be 
done  for  them ;  that  they  should  find  the  treasury  of 
heaven,  and  all  the  resources  of  God,  open  and  ac¬ 
cessible  to  them. 

To  show  them  the  triumph  of  feeling  over  form, 
he  brought  them  by  parable,  into  the  temple,  and  di¬ 
rected  their  attention  to  two  worshipers — the  one,  a 
pharisee,  standing  erect  before  God  ;  loud  and  volu¬ 
ble  ;  with  nothing  but  virtues  to  recount ;  the  envy 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY'. 


307 


of  his  nation,  the  pride  of  his  sect:  the  other  a  pub¬ 
lican,  one  of  the  refuse  of  the  people;  bowed,  de¬ 
jected,  self  condemned  ;  his  eyes  seeking  the  dust ; 
his  heart  swollen  even  to  bursting;  his  utterance 
choked;  smiting  upon  bis  breast  as  the  seat  of  all  his 
agony  and  disease ;  able  only  to  articulate,  “  God  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.”  But  while  the  former  is 
sent  empty  away,  he  shows  them  the  other  returning 
to  his  bouse,  rich  in  the  favor  of  God  ;  forgiven, 
justified,  happy.  Thus  he  taught  them  that  prayer  is 
a  sigh  ;  a  tear  ;  a  look  ;  an  act  of  prostration  ;  a  tran¬ 
saction  of  the  soul  with  heaven  ;  an  affair  in  which 
the  only  office  of  the  tongue  is  to  unload  the  freight¬ 
ed  and  overflowing  heart,  and  relieve  it  of  its  op¬ 
pressive  fullness.  He  encouraged  and  urged  them, 
by  his  own  example,  by  arguments,  by  parables,  by 
appeals  to  the  parental  affections  ol  their  natuie  by 
explicit  promises,  to  ask,  to  seek,  to  knock,  to  set  no 
bounds  to  their  importunity,  to  give  unlimited  scope 
and  ardor  to  their  desires  ;  and,  that  no  doubt  of  wel¬ 
come  and  success  might  obtrude  to  check  the  full 
flow  and  outpouring  of  their  souls  to  God,  he  affirm¬ 
ed  it  to  be  an  invariable  principle  of  the  divine  gov¬ 
ernment,  that  every  one  that  asketh,  receiveth.  And 
likening  his  new  and  evangelical  church  to  a  king¬ 
dom,  and  the  entrance  to  it  to  a  straight  gate  and  a  nar¬ 
row  way,  a  defile  in  which  hell  has  posted  its  arches 
to  dispute  the  passage,  he  cheered  them  to  the  onset, 
bade  them,  though  at  the  risk  of  an  eye,  a  hand  or 
even  life  itself,  to  agonize,  to  force  their  way  as  with 
a  spasm  of  energy,  and  seize  that  kingdom  by- 
storm. 

Devotion,  which  to  be  pure  and  vital  must  derive 
its  supplies,  like  the  living  stream,  by  bidden  com¬ 
munication  with  the  parent  ocean,  he  found  cut  off 
from  the  great  Fountain  of  life,  and  made  to  consist 
in  artificial  jet  works  and  devices  for  proud  and  pub¬ 
lic  display.  Its  seclusive  character  was  entirely  gone. 
As  if  the  only  aliment  on  which  it  could  live  was 
publicity,  as  if  its  value  depended  entirely  on  the  de- 


308 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


gree  in  which  it  was  seen,  its  favorite  resorts  were 
the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogue,  tiie  corners  of  the 
streets,  and  the  market-place.  Tired  of  the  closet, 
and  even  of  the  sanctuary*  devotion,  or  that  which 
passed  for  it,  had  brought  forth  all  its  symbols  and 
apparatus  which  should  have  been  sacred  to  secrecy, 
spread  them  abroad  before  the  public  eye,  and  trans¬ 
acted  its  high  and  solemn  affairs  with  heaven  at  the 
sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  in  the  broad  glare  of  day. 
Reprobating  this  shameless  ostentation  as  hypocrisy, 
he  assigned  to  it  its  only  legitimate  reward — the  no¬ 
tice  of  man,  the  barren  applause  of  congenial  hypoc¬ 
risy — and  left  it  withering  under  the  frown  of  God. 
But  taking  the  subject  of  sincere  devotion  by  the 
hand,  he  led  him  to  a  hushed  and  secret  recess  :  and, 
closing  the  door,  secluded  him  from  the  noise  and  ob¬ 
servation  of  the  world,  and  left  him  alone  with  God  ; 
there  to  forget  all  things  but  God  and  himself ;  there 
to  discover,  in  his  connatural  affinity  and  sympathy 
with  God,  the  hidden  and  dormant  dignity  of  his 
own  nature ;  and  thence  to  come  forth,  rich  in  the 
smiles  of  his  heavenly  Father,  and,  like  a  priest  fresh 
from  a  cloud  of  incense,  suffused  with  the  holy  fra¬ 
grance  of  his  divine  employment. 

IV.  But  that  which  formed  a  prominent  feature  of 
our  Lord’s  teaching,  and  which  on  that  account 
claims  our  especial  attention,  was  the  spirituality  of 
his  new,  evangelical  kingdom.  He  came  to  a  peo¬ 
ple  possessed  by  the  demon  of  national  ambition. 
Having  securalized  their  religion,  and  thus  prepared 
themselves  for  the  delusion,  their  early  conquests, 
their  miraculous  history,  and  the  glowing  descriptions 
of  prophecy  combined  to  foster  the  expectation  of 
their  coming  greatness  and  universal  empire  ;  while 
the  galling  pressure  of  the  Roman  yoke  rendered  the 
vision  doubly  precious,  and  heightened  its  splendors, 
and  filled  them  with  a  frenzy  of  impatience  to  behold 
it  realized.  The  advent  of  Messiah  alone  was  want¬ 
ing  to  make  them  a  nation  of  princes  and  masters  of 
the  world.  On  his  appearing,  the  nations  were  to  be 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


309 


summoned ;  and  submit,  or  perish.  Leading  forth 
an  army  of  conquerers,  the  swords  of  God,  he  would 
make  the  circuit  of  the  earth,  and  return  with  the 
spoils  of  universal  triumph.  Judea  would  hence¬ 
forth  be  a  land  of  palaces,  the  seat  of  terrestrial  pow¬ 
er  the  very  heaven  of  earth.  They  lived  in  the  fa¬ 
miliar  contemplation  of  a  vision  in  which  “  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them,  were 
placed  at  their  feet ;  a  vision  in  which  they  saw 
themselves  collected  and  ranged  in  hierarchal  order, 
gradation  above  gradation,  a  towering  structure  of 
political  grandeur  ;  a  living  pyramid,  whose  summit 
was  crowned  with  the  throne  of  the  hope  of  Israel 
invested  with  the  insignia  of  universal  supremacy, 
and  at  whose  basement  was  stretched  out  in  glori¬ 
ous  perspective  the  kneeling  and  admiring  homage 
of  the  world.  Such  anticipation,  in  substance  was 
the  creed  of  the  nation.  It  was  not  peculiar  to  the 
visionary  few,  but  was  portrayed  in  vivid  and  perma¬ 
nent  imagery  on  every  mind.  Not  to  believe  in  its 
approach  was  infidelity  ;  and  not  to  pray  for  it  was, 
to  a  proverb,  not  to  pray  at  all.  The  expectation  of 
it  moulded  their  worship,  imprinted  itself  on  then 
language  and  on  many  of  their  habits,  and  kept  them 
in  a  perpetual  fever  of  excitement.  ....  . 

In  the  face  of  this  sorcerous  and  powerful  delusion, 
Jesus  propounded  the  simplicity  of  Messiah’s  reign. 
He  did  this,  not  merely  to  dissipate  the  existing  er¬ 
ror  but  knowing  that  the  principle  from  which  it 
sprung  is  native  to  the  human  heart,  and  foreseeing 
that  the  great  enemy  would  attempt  to  employ  it 
against  his  church,  in  every  form  and  in  every  age,  lie 
sought  to  render  it,  if  not  impossible,  at  least  utterly 
inexcusable.  His  early  instructions  were  devoted 
supremely,  and  even  solely  to  this  object.  By  dis¬ 
patching  his  herald  to  proclaim  repentance  as  the  on- 
]v  preparation  for  his  coming  kingdom,  lie  essayed 
to  disturb  the  national  dream  and  to  break  up  the 
popular  delusion.  On  coming  to  Jerusalem,  lie  re¬ 
paired  to  the  temple;  and  by  expelling  the  herd  of 


310 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  worldly  that  profaned  it,  he  practically  taught 
that  in  his  church,  wherever  and  whenever  it  might 
exist,  names  would  be  nothing  and  character  every 
thing.  Discoursing  with  Nicodemus  immediaiely 
after,  he  insisted  on  the  regeneration  of  the  heart  as 
indispensable  to  his  kingdom-  Then  followed  his 
discourse  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  in  which,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  he  left  nothing  to  the  hopes  of 
the  secular  and  carnal,  but  opened  to  the  spiritual  a 
prospect  of  unclouded  day.  Proceeding  into  Gali¬ 
lee,  he  took  up  the  burden  of  the  Baptist’s  preach¬ 
ing,  and  repeated  wherever  he  came,  “  Repent  ye, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.”  Arriving  at 
Nazareth,  he  implied  the  spiritual  design  of  his  mis¬ 
sion  by  appropriating  the  prediction  which  described 
the  poor,  the  blind,  the  bruised  and  broken  hearted 
as  the  objects  of  his  peculiar  care.  Followed  by  a 
large  and  admiring  multitude,  many  of  whom  had 
lately  beheld  hint  at  Jerusalem  when  his  miracles  had 
divided  attention  with  the  temple  itself,  and  all  of 
whom  were  sanguine  of  his  patribtic  designs,  he  as¬ 
cended  the  mount,  marked  the  unholy  enthusiasm 
which  fired  their  hearts,  surveyed  the  phantoms  of 
national  greatness  which  played  before  their  eyes, 
saw  that  their  ambitious  impatience  was  at  its  height, 
and  opening  his  mouth  by  the  first  sentence  he  utter¬ 
ed  he  laid  their  kingdom  in  the  dust ;  “  Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  Spirit  for  their’’ s  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 
He  corrects  their  extravagant  views,  not  by  branding 
and  denouncing  them,  but  by  pronouncing  his  bene¬ 
diction  on  sentiments  of  a  very  opposite  description. 
He  does  not  require  them  to  relinquish  their  hopes  of 
a  kingdom  ;  he  promises  a  kingdom  ;  but  then  the 
kingdom  he  proposes  is  spiritual,  a  state  in  which 
their  earthly  passions  will  be  discredited  and  un¬ 
known,  and  qualities  the  very  opposite  prevail,  in 
which  spiritual  poverty  would  constitute  the  greatest 
wealth. 

Had  he  delivered  no  specific  instructions  concern¬ 
ing  the  genius  of  his  kingdom,  we  might  have  infer¬ 
red  its  spirituality  from  his  conduct  alone.  Had  the 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


311 


policy  and  pride  of  man  been  consulted  on  the  means 
of  its  erection,  they  would  have  demanded  that  splen¬ 
dor  should  he  seen  following  in  its  train,  and  wealth 
pouring  out  its  treasures  at  his  ieeu  and  ambition  le- 
alizing  honors  and  titles  at  his  hands.  They  would 
have  said,  “  If  a  new  system  is  to  be  proclaimed  and 
established  in  the  world,  let  the  profoundest  philoso¬ 
phers  of  the  day  be  engaged  to  advocate  its  merits; 
let  the  princes  and  potentates  of  the  earth  be  induc¬ 
ed  to  patronize  it,  and  take  it  under  their  guardian 
care ;  let  poetry  sing  its  praises ;  let  eloquence  pour 
forth  its  most  effective  oratory  in  her  beliall ;  let 
every  spring  of  human  power  be  touched  and  put  m 
motion,  and  the  gospel  may  gradually  gain  a  footing 
in  the  world.”  And  had  it  been  of  earthly  origin  and 
character,  such  instrumentality  might  have  been  wise 
and  well.  But  the  spirituality  of  its  nature  disdained 
such  alliance.  The  empire  of  Jesus  was  intended  to 
be  the  great  anomaly  of  the  world;  and  its  Founder 
designed  that  its  distinctive  character  should  be  seen 
in  the  anomalous  means  employed  to  erect  it.  “My 
kingdom,”  said  he,  “is  not  of  this  world  ;  and  iortfi- 
with  he  proceeded  to  illustrate  the  truth  by  laying 
its  foundation  in  his  own  death  :  by  erecting  a  cross 
for  its  center  and  glory.  “  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world  ;  it  came  down  complete  from  heaven,  and  it 
conducts  thither  again  ;  it  does  not  contemplate  man 
specifically  in  his  national,  secular,  or  artificial  rela¬ 
tions,  but  ‘in  his  moral  capacity  as  amenable  to  the 
invisible  and  supreme  Governor  ;  and  it  proposes  to 
form  him  into  a  subject,  and  to  acquire  Ins  allegi¬ 
ance,  by  laws  and  influences  unknown  to  the  resour¬ 
ces  of  earthly  powers,  and  mysterious  as  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  the  wind,  an  agency  derived  immediately 
from  heaven.”  It  may  impress  its  image  on  earthly 
governments  with  the  happiest  effect,  but  cannot 
take  from  them  the  slightest  print  without  receivin 
essential  injury ;  it  may  leave  the  constitution  ot 
human  empire  untouched,  while  it  pervades  and  pos¬ 
sesses  every  member  of  that  state,  and  renders  him 
2G 


si)  a 


312 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


a  new  creature.  So  spiritual  is  its  nature,  that,  like 
its  omnipresent  Founder,  who  is  always  present  with 
his  creatures  in  the  same  place,  without  destroying 
any  of  the  attributes  proper  to  their  nature,  it  is  ca¬ 
pable  of  co-existing  and  co-extending  with  an  earthly 
state,  and  of  preserving  its  own  separate  character, 
without  at  all  interfering  with  the  functions  proper 
to  that  state. 

Unlike  the  dominions  of  the  kings  of  the  earth, 
his  kingdom  knows  nothing  of  territorial  divisions 
and  geographical  bounds.  “  That  which  is  born  of 
the  spirit  is  spirit,”  and  belongs  to  his  domains:  so 
much  of  thp  man  as  is  sanctified  is  native  to  this 
state,  and  no  more ;  and  only  so  much  of  society  as 
is  reclaimed  to  holiness  comes  within  its  spiritual 
scope  and  verge.  It  is  a  region  of  light ;  and  to 
whatever  point  its  beams  may  reach,  “  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  come  nigh  unto  it.”  It  is  a  dominion  of  ho¬ 
liness;  and  he  who  begins  ter  exhibit  the  signs  of 
repentance  is  “  not  far  from  it,”  is  approaching  its 
happy  confines.  The  lengths  and  breadths  of  Im¬ 
manuel’s  land  are  not  capable  of  being  mapped  ;  it 
is  a  region  too  etherial  to  be  subjected  to  the  lines  of 
latitude  and  longitude  ;  it  is  to  commensurate  with 
actual  faith  and  actual  holiness,  and  knows  no  limits 
but  where  these  terminate. 

To  be  the  subjects  of  this  kingdom  does  not  de¬ 
pend  on  birth-place  or  human  relationship.  Their 
great  distinction  is,  that  they  are  born  from  above  ; 
“Jesus  answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Ex¬ 
cept  a  man  be  born  of  w'ater  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh ;  and  that  which  is  born 
of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
thee,  ye  must  be  born  again.”  In  their  natural  state 
they  are  flesh  of  flesh  ;  the  depraved  offspring  of  de¬ 
praved  parents.  Their  spiritual  principle — that  which 
principally  distinguished  them  as  men,  and  allied 
them  to  God — has  become  a  secondary  and  subordi¬ 
nate  part  of  their  nature.  It  ought  to  have  reigned. 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


313 


but  it  has  resigned  its  authority,  dismissed  its  state, 
and  abdicated  its  throne.  It  has  descended  to  be  a 
slave  where  it  ought  to  have  been  king.  The  flesh, 
which  should  been  only  its  chariot  of  triumph,  leads 
it,  instead,  in  degrading  captivity.  In  this  degraded 
state,  it  is  regarded  as  having  forfeited  its  own  name ; 
it  is  no  longer  worthy  to  be  called  spirit ;  it  even 
submits  to  the  dishonor  of  taking  its  name  from  the 
inferior,  the  fleshly  principle.  Being  immersed  in 
the  flesh,  and  owning  the  flesh  for  its  master,  the 
mind  is  animalized,  the  very  mind  is  turned  into 
flesh,  and  rendered  a  fleshly  mind;  “that  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh.” 

Now  it  is  characteristic  of  all  the  subjects  of  the 
gospel  kingdom,  that  this  unnatural  order  of  things 
has  been  reversed,  and  their  spirit  restored  to  its 
proper  supremacy  and  power.  Brought  out  of  the 
grave  which  enclosed  it,  and  reseated  on  its  native 
throne,  it  learns  to  assert  its  authority  over  the  flesh. 
It  is  not  detached  from  the  body  ;  but  is  enabled  to 
deny  the  flesh,  to  hold  it  in  subjection,  to  give  it  laws, 
and  to  exact  obedience.  It  is  not  exempt  from  the 
influences  of  carnal  propensities  ;  but  it  struggles 
with  them  ;  and  herein  consists  its  spirituality.  It 
will  no  longer  submit  to  their  rule  ;  it  will  be  master ; 
it  will  triumph  over  the  flesh,  and  make  its  new¬ 
found  royalty  appear  in  a  prevailing  spirituality. 
And  having  thus  recovered  its  authority  and  birth¬ 
right,  it  now  again  resumes  its  name — it  is  spirit. 
The  subject  of  the  change,  still  taking  his  name  from 
his  ruling  principle,  is  now  denominated  spiritual,  for 
it  is  his  spirit  that  reigns  ;  “  that  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit,  is  spirit.”  And  of  this  spiritual  character  are 
all  the  subjects  of  the  Christian  kingdom.  God  has 
no  moral  kingdom  on  earth,  but  what  consists  of  such 
characters  ;  for  as  the  extinction  of  this  spirituality 
by  sin,  was  the  extinction  of  a  kingdom,  so  the  re¬ 
production  of  it  by  the  Divine  Spirit  is  the  setting  up 
of  a  new  kingdom;  and  except  a  man  be  born  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  be  enrolled  among  its  subjects. 


314 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Contrary  to  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  tire  empire 
of  Christ  does  not  find  its  subjects,  but  makes  them. 
This  is  its  specific  and  exalted  object — the  produc¬ 
tion  and  perfection  of  spiritual  men.  Having  wan¬ 
dered  from  the  region  of  holiness,  they  were  account¬ 
ed  dead  towards  God  ;  destitute  of  a  whole  order  of 
life  which  originally  belonged  to  all  their  faculties, 
and  was  diffused  through  their  nature  constituting 
its  beauty  and  perfection.  “  I  am  come,”  said  Christ, 
“  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have 
it  more  abundantly.”  Being  drawn  by  an  unseen 
hand  within  the  circle  of  the  spiritual  region,  the 
life  they  had  lost  is  again  infused;  and  in  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  its  functions,  they  find  themselve  capable  of 
the  duties  of  their  new  empire,  and  make  proof  of 
their  allegiance  to  their  new  king.  Throwing  off  the 
yoke  of  the  flesh,  they  no  longer  allow  themselves  to 
be  the  sport  and  victim  of  whatever  sin  might  choose 
to  assail  them  ;  but  as  the  Spirit  hath  put  forth  his 
power  to  renew  them,  so  their  spirit  puts  forth  a  cor¬ 
responding  power  in  earnest  endeavors  after  holi¬ 
ness.  Admitted  to  the  presence  of  their  Sovereign 
Lord,  they  take  their  direction  from  his  lips,  acquire 
an  expansion  and  increase  of  the  divine  life,  until  be¬ 
ing  changed  into  the  same  image,  they  are  translated 
to  augment  and  adorn  his  kingdom  above. 

The  enlargement  of  an  earthly  kingdom  is  com¬ 
monly  attended  with  “  the  confused  noise  of  the  bat¬ 
tle  of  the  warrior,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood 
its  boundary  lines  arc  drawn  in  blood.  But  the 
progress  of  his  empire  is  like  the  silent  stealing  of 
light  on  darkness.  “  If  my  kingdom  were  of  this 
world,”  said  he,  “  then  would  my  servants  fight ;  but 
now  is  my  kingdom  not  from  hence.”  The  only  pa¬ 
noply  he  has  provided  for  its  militant  subjects,  is  an 
armor  of  character ;  the  weapons  of  their  warfare 
are  the  love  that  attracts,  the  patience  that  en¬ 
dures,  and  the  union  that  gives  strength.  The  victo¬ 
ries  they  achieve  are  all  bloodless — the  moral  con¬ 
quest  of  revolted  minds.  And,  hence,  like  the  silent 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


315 


fermenting  of  the  hidden  leaven,  or  the  unobtrusive 
growth  of  the  mustard  seed  to  a  tree,  the  enlarge¬ 
ment  of  his  empire  is  “  not  with  observation though 
it  is  a  leaven  which  is  to  pervade  aud  assimulate  the 
entire  mass  of  humanity,  and  a  tree  which  is  to  till 
the  world  with  its  fragrance  and  its  fruits. 

The  only  domains  on  which  his  empire  aggresses 
are  those  of  ignorance,  sense,  and  sin  ;  nor  does  it 
make  any  real  accession,  but  as  it  gradually  brings 
them  into  subjection ;  so  that  to  accept  the  patro¬ 
nage,  or  to  seek  the  alliance  of  the  unrenewed,  is  to 
suppose  that  darkness  would  combine  with  light,  to 
introduce  a  subject  of  the  prince  of  darkness,  and  in¬ 
vest  him  with  authority  in  the  dominions  of  the 
prince  of  light.  The  primary  object  of  human  gov¬ 
ernments,  is  the  protection  of  property,  liberty  and 
life  ;  the  design  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  may  con¬ 
sist  with  the  "loss  of  all  these,  and  yet  be  perfectly 
answered,  for  the  enemies  and  evils  from  which  it 
purposes  to  save,  relate  to  the  soul  and  eternity.  Its 
sovereign  himself  asserted  his  royalty  in  the  presence 
of  death,  and  endured  the  cross  as  the  very  means 
of  erecting  his  empire.  Qualities  which  shine  most 
resplendent  in  the  kingdoms  ot  the  world,  have  no 
place  in  his  ;  and,  while  accidents  of  birth  and  for¬ 
tune  confer  distinction  in  the  former,  the  latter  is  an 
empire  in  which  men  take  rank  according  to  their 
piety  alone  :  “  whosoever  shall  do  and  teach  the  di¬ 
vine"  commands,  the  same  shall  be  called  great  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.”  His  is  a  kingdom  in  which 
we  belong  to  the  higher  orders,  or  the  lower,  accord¬ 
ing  to  our  character :  in  which  holiness  is  the  only 
true  nobility  ;  in  which  is  wealth,  accomplishment, 
and  rank  all  in  one  ;  and  the  higher  our  attainments 
in  righteousness,  the  larger  our  share  of  his  royal  fa¬ 
vor,  the  more  unequivocally  are  we  treated  as  the 
children  of  a  king.  The  immunities  of  his  kingdom 
afford  no  hope  for  the  covetous,  no  scope  for  the 
proud  and  restless  aspirations  of  human  ambition  ; 
they  consist  of  self  dominion,  sympathies  with  hea- 


31b 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


veil,  fortastes  of  perfection,  the  imperishable  afflu¬ 
ence  of  the  soul,  “spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly 
places.”  The  laws  of  his  kingdom,  unlike  the  muta¬ 
ble  and  precarious  enactments  of  men,  are  unaltera¬ 
ble  ;  being  founded  in  his  own  unchangeable  nature, 
and  in  the  eternal  constitution  of  man  ;  heaven  anti 
earth  shall  pass  away,  before  one  of  them  shall  fail. 
And  constituting  as  they  do,  a  divine  and  perfect 
code,  they  admit  of  no  amendment,  accept  of  no  ad¬ 
ditions  from  human  legislation.  The  voice  of  hu¬ 
man  authority  in  his  empire  is  the  voice  of  treason, 
a  fearful  approximation  to  the  example  of  that  ambi¬ 
tious  spirit  whose  presumption  procured  his  banish¬ 
ment  from  heaven.  The  penalties  of  his  kingdom 
are  all  spiritual :  within  the  wide  limits  of  his  peace¬ 
ful  dominion  she  allows  no  blood  to  be  seen,  but  that 
of  his  own  atoning  sacrifice  ;  no  sword  to  be  wield¬ 
ed,  but  that  weapon  of  etherial  temper,  the  sword  of 
the  spirit,  whose  strokes  alight  oidy  on  the  con¬ 
science,  and  whose  edge  is  anointed  with  a  balm  to 
heal  every  wound  it  may  inflict.  If  one  of  his  pro¬ 
fessed  subjects  offend,  the  loyal  and  obedient  are  on¬ 
ly  empowered  to  rebuke  the  offender,  and  to  refuse 
him  their  society ;  and  even  of  the  man  who  with¬ 
holds  his  allegiance,  he  declares,  “I  judge  him  not” 
during  the  present  dispensation,  “  for  I  came  not  to 
judge  the  world,  but  to  save  it.” 

The  court  of  an  earthly  state  is  the  rendezvous  of 
its  pomp,  the  focus  of  its  splendor ;  a  spectacle  which 
the  eyes  of  its  people  never  weaiy  to  behold :  bis 
court  is  invisible ;  and  though  he  comes  to  give  audi¬ 
ence  to  his  people,  and  to  receive  their  petitions,  his 
presence  is  unseen,  the  object  of  their  faith.  Under 
the  dominion  of  earthly  princes,  a  graduated  scale  is 
applied  to  society,  dividing  it  into  ranks,  and  assign¬ 
ing  to  each  its  appropriate  elevation  and  distinction  : 
under  the  administration  of  the  gospel  kingdom, 
said  Christ,  it  “shall  not  be  so;  but  he  that  is  great¬ 
est  among  you,  let  him  be  as  the  younger,  and  he  that 
is  chief  as  he  that  doth  serve.”  “  For  one  is  your 


11IS  SPIRITUALITY. 


317 


master  even  Christ,  ami  all  ye  are  brethren.”  Under 
the  former,  society  is  a  cone,  the  high  places  of  which 
are  occupied  by  those  who,  in  proportion  to  their 
elevation,  speak  with  authority  to  the  circles  below 
them :  under  the  latter  society  is  a  plane,  on  which 
all  artificial  distinctions  are  levelled  and  lost.  The 
rich  descending  from  their  elevated  station,  the  poor 
emerging  from  their  obscure  retreats,  and  both  de¬ 
positing  their  respective  badges,  they  are  enrolled  in 
his  kingdom  by  one  common  appellation,  enter  his 
presence,  and  encircle  his  throne,  on  the  same  low 
basement.  Whatever  their  distinctions  as  the  sub¬ 
jects  of  earthly  princes,  as  the  subjects  of  his  empire, 
their  wants,  and  obligations,  and  destiny  exactly  co¬ 
incide,  and  place  them  on  a  perfect  equality :  while 
the  only  scope  they  have  lor  emulation  is  a  contest 
of  humility,  devotedness,  and  love,  a  race  ol  holiness; 
and  to  the  splendor  of  holiness,  being  an  order  of 
splendor  by  itself,  no  earthly  distinction  can  add  a  ray 
of  luster. 

And,  to  conclude  this  prolonged  particular,  1  will 
only  remark,  that,  while  the  subjects  of  human  gov¬ 
ernments  are  mortal,  and,  on  laying  down,  their  bo¬ 
dies,  cease  from  the  dominion  of  earthly  povver,  the 
subjects  of  Messiah’s  kingdom,  as  such,  aie  immoi- 
tal ;  their  departure  from  earth  being  only  a  removal 
to  a  higher  department  of  his  empire,  where  their  al¬ 
legiance  is  undivided,  and  rendered  to  him  alone, 
and  where  their  spiritual  relations  to  him  are  all 
verified  and  complete  ;  “  Where  I  am,”  saith  he, 
“  there  shall  also  my  servants  be.”  “  I  appoint  unto 
you  a  kingdom.”  And  while,  not  only  the  subjects 
of  earthly  states,  but  the  kingdoms  themselves,  dis¬ 
solve  and  disappear,  his  spiritual  cmpiic  shall  lise 
on  the  ruins  of  them  all :  having  combined  with 
none  of  their  perishable  elements,  it  shall  know  no 
change,  but  that  of  a  perpetual  advance  from  glory 
to  glory ;  and  the  moment  which  shall  behold  the 
dissolution  of  the  great  globe  itself,  shall  behold  his 
kingdom  crowned  with  perfection,  and  completed 
for  eternity. 


318 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Let  the  spirituality  of  the  Saviour’s  teaching,  on 
the  great  subjects  which  have  passed  under  consid¬ 
eration,  remind  us  of  our  proneness  and  danger  to 
repose  in  a  form  of  piety  to  the  neglect  of  spiritual 
and  evangelical  holiness.  Created  under  a  law 
which  promised  us  life  on  the  condition  of  our  per¬ 
fect  obedience,  we  still  retain  a  propensity  to  claim 
the  reward,  though  morally  unable  to  perform  the 
condition.  To  evade  the  conviction  of  this  inability, 
and  to  maintain  unimpaired  our  pretensions  to  hea¬ 
ven,  we  fondly  substitute  an  obedience  of  forms  for 
the  homage  and  piety  of  the  heart.  Besides,  owing 
to  the  ascendancy  which  our  senses  have  gained 
over  our  minds,  it  is  so  much  more  easy  and  gratify¬ 
ing  to  be  able  to  see  and  recount  our  religious 
doings,  than  to  attend  to  the  secret  duties  of  the 
heart,  that  we  would  fain  lose  sight  of  the  spiritual 
nature  of  religion,  in  an  engrossing  attention  to  its 
outward  forms. 

On  these  accounts  it  is  that  a  system  of  superstition, 
however  torturing  the  rites  it  may  inflict  on  its  vo¬ 
taries,  is  able  to  boast  a  more  imposing  array  of  devo¬ 
tees,  than  the  spiritual  religion  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
It  is  so  much  more  easy  to  endure  bodily  torture, 
than  to  bend  the  will  and  impose  mental  discipline  ; 
there  is  so  much  in  the  idea  of  personal  merit  to  sus¬ 
tain  the  endurance  of  physical  suffering,  and  so  much 
food  for  complacency  afterwards  in  the  review,  that 
Christianity  has  only  to  proclaim  its  acceptance  of 
tortures  and  penances  in  the  stead  of  spiritual  efforts, 
in  order  to  enrol  among  its  followers  multitudes  who 
now  stand  aloof  in  aversion  and  despair. 

Owing  to  the  operation  of  the  same  principles  it 
was  that  the  higher  and  ultimate  designs  of  the  Jew¬ 
ish  economy  became  neutralized  and  lost.  Burdened 
as  that  dispensation  was  with  ceremonial  obser¬ 
vances,  it  was  yet  highly  significant  of  all  that  is  spi¬ 
ritual  and  essential  in  the  present  economy.  But  the 
Jews,  while  they  scrupulously  honored  the  signs,  en¬ 
tirely  lost  sight  of  the  thing  signified.  They  paid  tithes 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY". 


319 


of  anise,  mint,  and  cummin  ;  they  offered  their  ani¬ 
mal  sacrifices ;  they  were  even  willing  to  multiply 
their  ritual  observances  a  hundred- fold,  provided, 
that  by  doing  so,  they  might  be  spared  the  irksome 
task  of  reflecting,  of  sustaining  a  mental  effort  which 
should  enable  them  to  “  look  to  the  end  of  that  which 
was  to  be  abolished this  was  a  duty  so  much  more 
difficult  than  to  discharge  a  routine  of  outward  cere¬ 
monies,  that  they  utterly  dismissed  it.  In  their  car¬ 
nal  hands,  the  transparent  type  became  opaque  and 
useless,  their  speaking  and  instructing  service  be¬ 
came  an  unmeaning  enigma,  a  dumb  and  tiresome 
show :  and  even  the  glorious  temple  itself,  meant  to 
be  the  shrine  and  sanctuary  of  living  piety,  became 
its  sepulcher ;  the  mighty  mausoleum  of  a  departed 
religion,  in  which  all  that  remained  to  interest,  was 
the  constant  celebration  of  its  funeral  rites. 

Judea  having  proved  the  grave  of  religion,  became 
also  the  scene  of  its  resurrection  to  a  loltier  order  of 
life,  and  clothed  in  a  more  spiritual  body.  Christi¬ 
anity,  as  compared  with  religion  in  its  Jewish  state, 
is  “  corruption  clothed  in  incorruption.”  ^  And  now, 
we  might  have  supposed,  religion  is  safe  from  its  for¬ 
mer  fate  ;  its  spirituality  will  now  form  its  protection 
and,  in  addition,  it  will  be  guarded  by  the  jealousy  of 
devout  admiration  ;  but,  instead  of  this,  the  very  first 
danger  to  which  it  was  exposed  was  that  of  being  di¬ 
vested  of  its  distinctive  character,  and  of  being  re¬ 
duced  to  an  affair  of  forms  and  ceremonies.  Many 
of  its  primitive  disciples  had  been  born  in  the  shad¬ 
ow  of  the  holy  place  ;  had  inhaled  the  incense  of  the 
altar  with  their  earliest  breath ;  and  had  daily  walk¬ 
ed  amidst  the  solemn  and  gorgeous  magnificence  of 
an  economy  modeled  after  the  pattern  of  heavenly 
things,  and  adorned  by  the  hand  of  Deity  himself. 
Proud  to  be  allied  to  such  a  church,  they  had  derived 
their  distinctive  name  from  its  initiatory  right,  and 
gloried  to  be  denominated  “  the  circumcision.”  The 
loftiest  conceptions  of  excellence  and  distinction,  of 
personal  security  and  future  enjoyment,  bad  long 


320 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


been  identified  in  their  minds  with  “the  circumci¬ 
sion.”  And  hence,  though  the  superior  character  of 
the  Christian  economy  had  long  since  carried  their 
convictions,  and  won  their  esteem,  yet  true  to  their 
early  prepossessions,  they  essayed  to  insert  it  as  a 
graft  into  the  Jewish  stock,  as  the  infallible  means  of 
enhancing  the  value  of  its  fruits.  So  far  from  enter¬ 
taining  the  idea,  that  the  Christian  institute  was  de¬ 
signed  to  supplant  the  Mosaic,  they  insisted  that  its 
saving  efficacy  depended  entirely  on  its  being  incor¬ 
porated  with  it;  that  whatever  good  of  a  subordinate 
kind  it  might  impart  to  others,  its  ultimate  blessings 
would  only  accrue  to  “  the  circumcision.”  And  ac¬ 
cordingly  the  apostles  had  early  to  interpose  their 
authority,  individually  and  collectively,  in  order  to 
save  the  new  dispensation  from  being  overlaid  and 
destroyed  by  a  favorite  and  corrupted  ritual. 

The  propensity  in  question  however  is  by  no  means 
peculiar  to  the  Jews,  whether  regarded  as  professors 
of  Judaism  or  of  Christianity ;  it  is  one  to  which  our 
common  nature  is  prone.  What  is  it  that  passes 
throughout  Christendom  generally  for  the  religion  of 
Christ?  what  but  an  elaborate  accumulation  of  pen¬ 
ances  and  mortifications,  of  splendid  sight  and  melo¬ 
dious  sounds,  of  fasts  and  festivals,  a  constantly  re¬ 
curring  round  of  outward  observances?  As  though 
conscious  of  its  want  of  a  spiritual  life,  they  have  vain¬ 
ly  endeavored  to  conceal  its  deathlike  features  by 
overlaying  it  with  a  profusion  of  costly  decorations. 

Nor  does  this  propensity  confine  its  pernicious  op¬ 
erations  to  the  sphere  of  our  duties  alone — of  what 
we,  have  to  do;  but  invading  the  region  of  Christian 
expectation  and  privilege,  how  generally  has  it  de¬ 
based  the  notions  of  men  concerning  the  nature  of 
that  salvation  which  God  proposes  to  accomplish  for 
them.  By  salvation,  they  understand  a  mere  outward 
deliverance — the  bestowinent  of  pardon  alone — with¬ 
out  remembering  that  to  be  pardoned,  in  the  scriptu¬ 
ral  sense,  is  at  the  same  time  to  be  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  their  mind ;  in  the  very  soul  of  their  soul. 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


321 


They  profess  to  be  infinitely  indebted  to  Christ,  sup¬ 
posing  him  to  have  accomplished  every  thing  for 
them  in  such  a  sense,  that  now  they  have  only  to  give 
their  consent,  in  order  to  be  taken  to  heaven  ;  not  re¬ 
membering  that,  before  he  can  be  said  to  have  done 
any  thing  for  them  personally,  he  must  actually  com¬ 
mence  a  renovating  process  within  them.  They  es-. 
timate  their  deliverance  from  hell,  as  from  a  place  ot 
outward  torment ;  forgetting  that  sin  has  created  a 
hell  within  them  ;  that  an  angry  and  polluted  con¬ 
science  is  a  worm  which  dieth  not ;  that  unsubdued 
propensities  to  sin  are  fires  which,  if  now  left  un¬ 
quenched,  will  continue  to  burn  on  forever  ;  that  dy¬ 
ing  in  habits  of  vice  we  shall  take  them  witli  us  as 
chains  of  our  own  forging  and  imposing,  and  wear 
them  for  ever ;  and  that  unless  they  are  delivered 
from  these  evils  now  by  the  renewing  agency  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  heaven  itself,  were  they  permitted  to 
enter  it,  would  be  no  scene  of  joy  to  them,  since 
every  thing  there  would  be  at  variance  with  theii 
taste,  and  painfully  opposed  to  their  character.  And 
in  the  same  way  they  are  accustomed  to  anticipate, 
heaven  as  a  spectacle  of  splendor,  and  the  scene  ot 
every  refined  pleasure  which  can  charm  the  senses  , 
as  the  elysium  in  which  they  are  to  find  happiness 
prepared  and  awaiting  their  arrival,  whatever  the 
state  in  which  they  may  reach  it.  They  entirely  lose 
sight  of  the  fact,  that  their  present  character  is  cre¬ 
ating  their  future  destiny  ;  that  their  principles  and 
actions,  preceding  their  own  departure,  have  already 
arrived  in  eternity,  and  are  there  preparing  for  them 
a  place  of  reception.  They  forget,  that  on  departing 
from  earth,  that  which  goes  to  be  examined  at  the 
bar  of  God  is  the  unclothed  soul,  the  naked  human 
character,  and  that  the  inevitable  test  to  which  it  is 
there  subjected  is,  whether  or  not  it  has  be^en  foim- 
ed  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  ol  God.  They  are 
blind  to  the  important  truth,  that  the  happiness  of 
heaven  will  principally  result  from  holiness  and  con¬ 
formity  to  God  :  that  so  far  heaven  commences  with 


322  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

the  Christian  on  earth  ;  and  that,  when  lie  leaves  the 
world,  lie  takes  the  elements  of  heavenly  happiness 
with  him ;  so  that  it  is  only  by  becoming  a  subject 
of  the  kingdom  of  holiness  now,  that  he  can  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  happiness  hereafter. 

The  principle  which  leads  men  to  substitute  exter¬ 
nal  things  for  the  religion  of  Christ,  is  of  universal 
operation  :  we  have  seen  that  this  has  entered  each 
dispensation,  and  appeared  in  every  age  of  the  church, 
obscuring  the  glory,  and  corroding  the  very  vitals  of 
piety.  In  the  war  it  has  waged  with  the  spirituality 
of  religion,  it  has  succeeded  in  materializing  and  de¬ 
basing  it  to  a  degree  which  has  left  nothing  for  the 
most  secular  and  devoted  worldling  to  hope  or  desire. 
It  has  so  consulted  his  tastes  and  provided  for  liis 
wishes,  that  he  can  easily  serve  both  God  and  mam¬ 
mon  ;  an  acbievment  which  was  once  pronounced 
impracticable  ;  for  while  it  leaves  the  heart  at  liberty 
for  the  reception  of  any  guests,  it  provides  that  reli¬ 
gion  should  be  satisfied  with  the  attention  of  form. 
It  has  subverted  the  whole  constitution  of  Messiah’s 
kingdom;  for  while  it  has  dethroned  him  from  his 
seat  in  the  heart ;  and  has  turned  his  laws  into  pre¬ 
scriptions  of  empty  forms  ;  and  the  homage  which 
is  paid  to  him  into  an  affair  of  heartless  ceremony, 
of  feudal  custom  ;  it  has  left  him  to  sway  an  impo¬ 
tent  scepter  over  a  kingdom  of  mere  nominal  sub¬ 
jects.  By  anticipation,  it  has  even  carried  its  deteri¬ 
orating  influence  into  the  region  of  futurity,  invaded 
the  upper  province  of  his  dominions,  materializing 
the  happiness  of  heaven  itself.  Oh,  what  would  that 
kingdom  of  which  Christ  is  the  author  and  glory 
have  become,  had  it  been  left  to  be  moulded  by  the 
hands  of  man  !  It  would  have  been  made  to  consist 
“of  meats  and  drinks an  assemblage  of  outward 
observances,  and  those  of  the  most  trivial  descrip¬ 
tion  ;  whereas  it  is  composed  of  “  righteousness, 
and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.” 

Thus  man  debases  whatever  he  touches  ;  even  the 
spirituality  of  the  gospel  could  not  escape  the  con- 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


323 


tainination.  But  from  this  humbling  survey  of  the 
treatment  which  Christianity  has  received  at  his  hands 
let  me  advert,  in  conclusion,  to  the  divine  simplicity 
of  the  divine  character  which  it  is  intended  to  form  ; 
and  advert  to  it  with  a  view  to  enforce  its  necessity. 

The  great  gift  of  the  new  dispensation,  the  pro¬ 
mise  most  frequently  on  the  lips  of  Christ,  and  which 
he  evidently  gloried  to  repeat,  is  the  promise  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  fulfillment  of  this  promise,  which 
is  alike  essential  to  the  first  and  last  step  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  life,  infallibly  transforms  its  recipients  into  spi¬ 
ritual  worshipers.  They  speak  to  God  through  no  in¬ 
direct  or  doubtful  medium  :  they  approach  to  him  by 
no  lengthened  process  of  preliminary  forms ;  through 
the  new  and  living  way,  it  is  their  privilege  to  ad¬ 
vance  to  his  footstool  personally  and  at  once.  They 
address  him  with  their  own  lips,  and  believe  that  he 
is  listening  to  every  word  they  utter.  They  bare 
their  hearts  to  his  inspection,  and  entreat  him  to  pen¬ 
etrate  and  pervade  them  with  his  grace.  Con¬ 
science,  faithful  to  its  trust,  presents  the  records  of  its 
secrets  to  his  eye  ;  and,  in  the  sovereign  smile  which 
approves  its  fidelity,  feels  reconfirmed  in  its  office, 
and  swears  allegiance  anew.  Their  thoughts  are 
busy  with  the  scheme  of  redemption  ;  and  as  won¬ 
der  after  wonder  rises  on  their  view,  they  find  them¬ 
selves  attracted  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  object  of 
their  worship.  Their  affections,  expanding  to  admit 
his  presence,  invite  him  to  enter  aad  ascend  the 
throne.  Every  part  of  their  spiritual  nature  is  em¬ 
ployed;  going  forth  towards  him  in  appropriate  acts 
and  emotions,  or  passively  waiting  to  own  the  first 
and  gentlest  impulses  of  his  hand.  Hypocrisy  is  a 
mask  which  they  wear  not  before  men  ;  before  God, 
besides  its  inefficiency  of  which  they  are  perfectly 
aware,  it  would  defeat  the  purpose  dearest  to  their 
hearts.  They  would  have  every  word  they  utter  in 
the  ear  of  God,  issue  as  from  the  center  of  their  be¬ 
ing.  Whatever,  while  in  his  presence,  diverts  their 
thoughts,  or  induces  them  to  express  an  unfelt  de- 


324  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

sire,  incurs  their  displeasure,  and  excites  their  regret. 
Not  to  hold  fellowship  with  him,  not  to  feel  that  their 
spiritual  nature  lias  come  in  contact  with  his,  is  to 
experience  a  disappointment  for  which  no  external 
rites,  however  numerous,  splendid,  or  venerable,  can 
compensate ;  a  disappointment  like  that  which  we 
may  suppose  the  high  Priest  would  have  felt,  had  he 
passed  into  the  holiest  of  all  and  found  the  glory  de¬ 
parted,  the  ark,  the  mercy-seat,  and  the  cherubim 
gone. 

“  The  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  him.”  lie 
has  sought  them  under  every  dispensation  of  relig¬ 
ion  ;  but,  under  the  present  economy,  he  has  a  right 
to  expect  that  his  search  will  be  peculiarly  success¬ 
ful.  The  declaration  indeed  denotes  their  compara¬ 
tive  rareness ;  and  reminds  us  of  the  value  which 
God  sets  on  them.  The  formal  and  insincere  uni¬ 
versally  abound  ;  but  such  he  disregards,  they  are  an 
abomination  in  his  sight.  But  wherever  a  spiritual 
worshiper  is  to  be  found,  there  is  an  object  which  at¬ 
tracts  the  divine  regard.  He  entertains  the  lofty  de¬ 
sign  of  translating  all  his  spiritual  worshipers  to  the 
temple  above. 

Finally,  let  those  of  my  readers  who  belong  to  the 
disciples  of  Jesus,  be  ambitious  to  exemplify  the  spi¬ 
ritual  nature  and  dignity  of  their  Christian  vocation. 
Delivered  from  the  shadows  and  ceremonies  of  the 
law,  you  are  placed  in  a  situation  pre-eminently  fa¬ 
vorable  to  increased  spirituality  of  mind.  Disciples 
of  a  school  in  which  all  human  authority  is  abjured  ; 
in  which  every  lesson  that  is  taught  is  “  spirit  and 
life  and  in  which  no  limits  are  placed  to  the  dis¬ 
coveries  made  by  the  Great  Teacher,  you  are  expect¬ 
ed  to  build  up  a  character  eminent  for  the  distinct¬ 
ness  of  its  heavenly  features,  to  become  proficients 
in  the  art  of  spiritual-mindedness.  Yours  is  not 
merely  the  character  of  the  ancient  believer,  chang¬ 
ed  in  nothing  but  name ;  it  is  the  elements  of  which 
that  character  is  composed,  brought  from  the  dim¬ 
ness  and  distance  of  a  twilight  dispensation  into  the 


HIS  SPIRITUALITY. 


325 


radiance  of  the  divine  presence,  baptized  with  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  sustained  with  a  purer  aliment,  and 
thus  developed,  expanded,  and  matured.  Looking  at 
the  superiority  of  your  spiritual  knowledge,  the  free¬ 
dom  of  your  access  to  God,  and  the  lullness  ol  hea¬ 
venly  influence  put  within  your  reach,  the  gospel 
may  be  said  to  have  placed  you  midway  between  the 
Jewish  economy  and  the  celestial  state.  Or,  as  it  it 
had  placed  you  in  effect  even  nearer  than  this  to  the 
privileges  of  heaven,  you  are  represented  as  having 
come  to  mount  Zion,  and  unto  the  city  ot  the  living 
God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  Raised  into  this  ethe¬ 
real  region,  your  views  are  not  to  be  bounded  by  the 
sensible  horizon  of  time  ;  urge  and  erect  your  souls 
to  take  a  larger  survey ;  expatiate  over  the  ample 
fields  of  revelation  ;  let  your  eyes  range  from  ever¬ 
lasting  to  everlasting;  you  will  thus  become  conver¬ 
sant  with  objects  in  whose  radiance  this  world  will 
stand  eclipsed,  and  familiar  with  scenes  and  plans 
compared  with  which  all  earth  is  only  a  point,  all 
time  a  moment,  all  human  knowledge  an  imperfect 
idea. 

If  the  mind  takes  its  character  from  the  objects 
which  it  most  contemplates,  then  yours  shall  be  a 
transcript  of  all  that  is  great,  and  pure,  and  spiritual.. 
You  are  born  spirit  of  Spirit:  you  have  the  mind  ot 
Christ ;  he  takes  you  into  daily  and  familiar  converse 
with  himself  on  the  subject  of  eternal  purposes  and 
infinite  grace,  that  he  may  so  transfer  to  you  his  own 
likeness,  and  send  you  forth  into  the  world  as  his 
spiritual  representatives.  Your  spirituality  is,  in  his 
eyes,  your  only  glory  ;  it  is  the  only  mark  by  which 
he  distinguishes  you  from  the  world,  the  only  part  of 
your  nature  which  he  owns  for  his  offspring;  you 
cannot  therefore  open  your  souls  to  the  ingress  of 
the  world,  or  leave  them  unfortified  against  its  influ¬ 
ence,  without  consenting  to  lose  your  great  distinc¬ 
tion,  and  being  guilty  of  treason  against  the  King 
of  souls. 

Jn  effacing  from  your  minds  the  image  of  the 


326 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

earthly,  his  design  is  to  impress  on  them  the  image 
of  the  heavenly  ;  that  you  may  show  forth  his  like¬ 
ness,  and  circulate  his  praise  in  the  world.  If  lie  ad¬ 
mits  you  to  stand  in  the  light  of  his  presence,  it  is 
not  that  you  may  absorb  and  conceal  it ;  but  that,  as 
prepared  mediums,  you  may  transmit  the  glory  of  his 
throne  to  others.  He  has  made  you  the  subjects  of 
a  kingdom  which  disdains  the  boundaries  of  time 
and  place,  that  your  benevolence  may  know  no  lim¬ 
its.  In  approaching  his  altar  as  his  royal  priesthood, 
you  are  to  speak  as  intercessors  for  the  race  ;  in  of¬ 
fering  thanksgiving,  you  are  to  be  the  organ  and 
voice  of  the  gratitude  due  to  him  from  the  world. 
And  having  enrolled  yourselves  as  his  subjects  and 
servants,  you  are  to  apply  your  hand  to  the  vast  ma¬ 
chinery  of  his  providence,  and  to  mingle  with  the 
operations  of  his  almighty  love,  in  restoring  to  har¬ 
mony  the  disorders  of  the  uni  verso.  He  has  given 
to  you  his  own  Spirit,  that  even  here  you  may  be¬ 
come  naturalized  to  a  spiritual  element,  and  be 
changed  into  it:  and  that  when  you  are  called  to  join 
the  great  community  of  spirits,  where  the  body  itself 
is  to  be  sublimated  into  spirit,  you  may  not  be‘  found 
wanting  in  any  heavenly  function,  but  may  enter  on 
it  as  on  the  enjoyment  of  your  native  state. 


ESSAY  IV. 


ON  THE  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE  OF  OUR  LORD’S 
TEACHING. 


<•  Learti  of  me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  vour  souls.” 

“  And  all  bare  him  witness,  and  wondered  at  Ihe  gracious  words  which 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth.” 


In  perusing  the  writings  of  many  a  moral  instruc¬ 
tor,  the  only  abatement  from  our  edification  arises 
from  the  unwelcome  recollection  of  his  character. 
His  statements  of  truth  are  forcible,  his  illustrations 
clear,  his  appeals  affecting  ;  but  the  remembrance  of 
the  contradiction  which  existed  between  his  doctrine 
and  life  returns,  the  spell  by  which  he  held  us  is  dis¬ 
solved,  a  shadow  falls  on  the  page,  and  his  most  ar¬ 
rowy  appeals  drop  pointless  and  short  of  our  hearts. 
But  in  listening  to  the  instruction  of  our  blessed 
Lord,  the  recollection  of  his  character  is  not  only 
welcome,  in  order  to  do  them  justice,  it  is  essential. 
There  have  been  others,  indeed,  who  have  owed  the 
success  of  their  teaching  partly  to  their  moral  excel¬ 
lences  ;  but  such  is  the  excellence  of  his  character 
that,  could  we  only  bring  to  the  perusal  of  his  in¬ 
structions  a  vivid  recollection  of  it,  we  should  no 
longer  have  to  deplore  its  inefficacy  ;  could  we  only 
come  to  them  under  the  full  influence  of  that  idea, 
nothing  could  long  resist  their  power  ;  and  so  often 
as  we  returned  to  them,  they  would  receive  so  strong 
a  reinforcement  of  impression  from  that  association, 
that  they  could  not  fail  to  pass  farther  and  farther  into 
the  mind,  making  for  themselves  a  home  in  the  heart, 
changing  the  soul  into  their  own  form  and  quality 
and  thus  verifying  his  own  description  of  them,  that 
“  they  are  spirit,  and  thev  are  life.” 

27** 


328 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

His  original  hearers,  be  it  remembered,  enjoyed 
this  advantage  ;  whether  or  not  they  availed  them¬ 
selves  of  it  is  a  distinct  consideration ;  they  often  en¬ 
joyed  the  privilege  of  beholding  his  miracles  of  mer¬ 
cy  ;  and,  instantly  on  the  same  spot,  they  listened  to 
the  gracious  words  which  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth ; 
while  yet  they  were  under  the  arrest  of  some  new 
display  of  majesty,  his  doctrine  dropped  as  the  rain, 
his  speech  distilled  as  the  dew.  It  will  not  be  irrele¬ 
vant  then,  if,  to  place  ourselves  as  nearly  as  possible 
in  their  position,  we  briefly  advert  to  the  excellences 
of  our  Lord’s  character;  especially  to  those  which 
relate  to  the  particular  qualities  of  his  teaching,  now 
under  consideration.  We  shall  then  point  out  some 
of  his  corresponding  characteristics  as  a  teacher ; 
and,  finally,  present  examples  from  his  teaching  il¬ 
lustrative  of  his  tenderness,  benignity,  and  compas¬ 
sion. 

I.  In  attempting  to  portray  the  moral  perfection 
of  Christ,  we  feel  that  we  arc  contemplating  one  who 
is  fairer  than  the  children  of  men;  standing  in  the 
presence  of  Him  who  is  altogether  lovely.  O  for  the 
pen  of  that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  ;  who  select¬ 
ed  his  Lord’s  humility  and  love  as  things  most  con¬ 
genial  with  his  own  taste  ;  and  leant  on  his  sacred 
bosom  till  he  became  imbued  with  the  heavenly  love 
which  dwelt  there !  O  for  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  to  unveil  his  excellences 
to  our  view  ;  that,  while  we  are  beholding,  we  may 
be  changed  into  the  same  image;  may  have  our 
taste  purified  and  exalted  into  sympathy  with  his  tran- 
scendant  character  !  Of  the  early  history  of  Christ, 
indeed,  we  have  but  two  or  three  slight  incidental 
notices;  but  who  can  read  even  these  notices,  slender 
as  they  are,  in  the  light  of  his  after  life,  without  find¬ 
ing  in  them  a  warrant  for  the  imagination  to  indulge 
itself  with  a  picture  of  his  early  perfection.  If  his 
youth  and  his  early  manhood  corresponded  with  his 
subsequent  life,  how  cloudless  and  blessed  must  have 
been  the  morning  of  such  a  day,  and  how  happy 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  3ENEVOLENCE. 


329 


they  who  stood  in  its  light.  Unlike  the  virtues  of  or¬ 
dinary  humanity,  which  are  grafted,  and  stunted,  and 
hardly  preserved  with  incessant  cave,  his  nature  con¬ 
tained  in  itself  the  seeds  of  all  worth,  and  every  seed 
became  a  fruit;  every  hour  beheld  him  put  forth 
some  additional  bud  of  promise.  Like  the  earth 
when  first  it  was  sown  by  the  hand  of  God,  and  held 
in  its  bosom  the  germs  of  a  universal  paradise,  his 
nature  brought  with  it  all  the  elements  of  excellence. 
Goodness  rejoiced  in  it  as  in  its  native  soil.  His  life 
was  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord  ;  for  there  grew  in  it 
every  thing  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food  : 
obedience,  which  ran  at  the  first  call  of  duty;  pru¬ 
dence,  rendering  the  present  subservient  to  the  fu¬ 
ture  ;  sensibility,  responding  to  the  softest  tones  of 
nature,  and  the  clear  transparency  of  truth  :  and  na¬ 
tive  courtesy  and  love,  that  clasped  every  thing  love¬ 
ly  to  its  soul,  and  became  one  with  it.  What  won¬ 
der  was  it  that,  thus  adorned  and  distinguished,  he 
should  have  “  increased  in  favor  with  God  and  man,” 
have  become  the  favorite  of  heaven  and  earth.  Had 
the  first  probation  been  to  be  made  again,  one  indi¬ 
vidual  tried  as  the  representative  of  all  the  race,  and 
heaven  proposed  as  the  prize  of  success,  who  would 
not  have  thought  of  him?  all  eyes  would  have  invol¬ 
untary  turned  to  him,  all  hearts  would  have  confided 
the  great  probation  to  his  hands,  and  have  looked  on 
heaven  as  secure. 

Emerging,  at  length,  from  the  obscurity  of  his  ear¬ 
ly  life,  “he  came  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been 
brought  up  :  and,  as  his  custom  was,  he  went  into 
the  synagogue  on  the  sabbath  day,  and  stood  up  for 
to  read.  And  there  was  delivered  unto  him  the  book 
of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  And,  when  he  had  opened 
the  book,  he  found  the  place  where  it  is  written,  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me  because  he  hath  an¬ 
ointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor ;  he  hath 
set  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliver¬ 
ance  to  the  captive,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to 


330 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.  And  he 
closed  the  book,  and  he  gave  it  again  to  the  minister 
and  sat  down.  And  the  eyes  of  all  them  that  were 
in  the  synagogue  were  fastened  on  him.  And  he 
began  to  say  unto  them,  This  day  is  this  scripture 
fulfilled  in  your  ears.”  Such,  then,  in  his  own  esti¬ 
mation,  was  the  nature  of  his  divine  commission  ; 
and  he  fulfilled  it.  His  whole  life  was  a  comment 
on  this  text. 

If  our  subject  permitted,  we  should  love  to  linger 
on  the  purity  of  his  character;  for  this,  though  by  no 
means  the  most  attractive  feature  to  a  sinful  race,  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable.  And  here,  be  it  observ¬ 
ed,  he  sought  not  to  preserve  his  holiness  unspotted, 
by  avoiding  contact  with  the  world  ;  he  was  not  in¬ 
debted  for  his  purity  to  the  privacy  of  a  recluse. 
From  the  moment  he  became  a  public  character,  his 
field  was  the  w  orld  ;  he  domesticated  him  self  j  if  I 
may  say  so,  and  desired  to  be  numbered  as  one  of  the 
human  family  ;  he  sought  to  become  the  heart  of  the 
world  ;  and,  in  the  prosecution  of  that  object,  he 
turned  not  aside  from  a  personal  encounter  with  the 
Tempter  himself.  From  every  thing  which  the 
world  contained  of  great  and  good,  his  nature  select¬ 
ed  and  drew  to  itself  aliment  and  life,  while  it  re¬ 
jected  all  the  pernicious  ingredients  with  which  the 
purest  elements  on  earth  are  defiled. 

He  passed  through  a  scene  in  which,  at  every  step 
he  took,  a  thousand  malignant  influences  were  wait¬ 
ing  to  dart  on  him,  “Yet  he  did  no  sin,  neither  was 
guile  found  in  his  mouth.”  He  uttered  not  a  single 
sentence  capable  of  being  construed  into  a  confes¬ 
sion  of  guilt,  or  a  consciousness  of  defilement.  He 
often  alluded  to  his  poverty,  rejection,  and  sufferings  ; 
and  oftener  still  to  the  subject  of  sin,  in  a  variety  of 
forms  ;  but  he  breathed  not  a  wmrd  which  could  be 
construed  into  an  intimation  that  he  considered  him¬ 
self  less  than  a  being  of  unsullied  purity.  On  the 
contrary,  he  challenged  his  enemies  (and  he  had  but 
few  friends)  to  convict  him  of  a  single  sin.  The 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.  331 

prince  of  this  world  came,  and  found  nothing  in 
him;  no  single  thought  or  feeling  which  responded 
to  temptation,  or  disposed  him  for  a  moment  to  yield 
to  it.  He  lived  for  years,  and  was  actively  employed 
in  a  world  in  which  every  condition  has  its  peculiar 
temptations,  so  that  of  all  the  myriads  who  have  ever 
inhabited  it,  not  one  has  escaped  the  pollution  of  sin. 
But,  like  the  sunbeam,  which  remains  uncontaminat¬ 
ed  whatever  the  object  on  which  it  may  shine,  the 
Saviour  emerged  from  this  region  of  guilt,  and  re¬ 
entered  the  portals  of  heaven,  as  pure  and  unspotted 
as  when  he  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father.  It  was 
strictly  true  of  him  to  the  latest  moment  of  his  con¬ 
tinuance  on  earth ;  with  perfect  sincerity  it  might 
have  been  inscribed  on  his  tomb;  it  might  have  been 
shouted  with  triumph  as  he  ascended  to  the  throne 
of  heaven,  “he  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we 
are,  yet  without  sin.” 

Beside  his  purity,  we  might  specify,  not  merely  his 
superiority  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  but  the  abso¬ 
lute  contrariety  of  his  character  to  all  existing  and 
surrounding  influences ;  the  universality  of  his  plans, 
which  distinguished  and  left  him  alone  in  the  earth: 
the  reconciliation  and  union  in  his  character  of  oppo¬ 
site  excellencies,  and  which  formed  its  perfection  and 
finish.  But  that  which  sheds  a  prevailing  hue  over 
the  whole  character  of  Christ,  and  forms  its  princi¬ 
pal  feature,  is  unquestionably,  benevolence.  It  is 
that  transcendental  attribute,  which  ran  through  all 
the  rest,  adapting,  baptizing,  and  turning  the  whole 
into  grace.  What  but  this  could  have  induced  his 
purity  to  tabernacle  in  the  midst  of  sin  ?  it  was  by 
no  means  an  indifferent  act  to  him;  “he  suffered , 
being  tempted,”  suffered  in  proportion  to  the  perfec¬ 
tion  of  his  holiness,  and  the  depth  of  his  aversion  to 
sin  ;  but  though  his  residence  in  an  atmosphere  of 
sin  was  revolting  to  his  purity,  though  the  presence 
of  depravity  made  his  continuance  here  a  perpetual 
sacrifice,  his  love  induced  him  to  submit,  induced 
him  so  intimately  to  associate  with  the  ungodly,  that 


332 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


one  of  his  characteristic  names  became,  “  the  friend 
of  publicans  and  sinners.” 

We  have  said  that  his  character  was  not  only  su¬ 
perior  to  all  existing  and  surrounding  influences,  but 
quite  distinct  from  them.  Others  are  more  or  less 
affected  by  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are 
brought  up  ;  however  superior  to  external  influences 
they  may  appear,  they  cannot  escape  entirely  the 
spirit  of  the  age;  they  hold  communion,  and  enjoy 
sympathy,  with  those  around  them.  But  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  Christ  had  in  it  nothing  local,  temporary,  or 
common.  It  appeared  in  the  world  entire,  indepen¬ 
dent,  and  unique.  It  was  formed  lor  a  world  which 
had  lost  the  original  pattern  of  goodness,  and  had 
sunk  into  a  state  of  universal  selfishness;  the  whole 
of  his  history  therefore  is  a  history  of  the  sacrifice 
of  selfish  feelings ;  his  life  was  calculated  and  con¬ 
structed  on  the  principle  of  a  laborious  endeavor  to 
imbue  the  world  with  the  lost  spirit  of  benevolence, 
to  baptize  it  afresh  in  the  element  of  love. 

The  universality  of  his  plans,  which  left  him 
without  any  contemporaneous  sympathy,  must  also 
be  resolved  into  the  same  principle.  He  loved  man 
as  man,  he  came  to  be  the  light  and  life  of  the  world. 
His  benevolence  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  a 
single  human  being  perishing ;  his  heart  had  room 
for  the  whole  race  ;  and  he  could  not  be  satisfied 
with  less  than  a  universal  offer  of  mercy. 

And  benevolence  is  the  principle  which  harmoniz¬ 
ed  in  him  the  most  contrasted  qualities.  In  his 
mysterious  person  it  had  brought  into  union  time 
and  eternity,  heaven  and  earth  ;  and  in  his  character 
it  blended  majesty  such  as  God  before  had  never  dis¬ 
played,  with  meekness  such  as  man  before  had  never 
shown.  Dignity,  in  him,  was  not  terror,  for  he  cloth¬ 
ed  it  with  a  condescension  which  had  before  been 
thought  inconsistent  with  greatness.  Temperance 
and  self-denial,  with  him,  were  not  darkened  with 
austerity,  but  came  softened  and  recommended  by 
gentleness  and  suavity.  In  him  were  united  an  in- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.  333 


dignant  sensibility  to  sin,  with  weeping  compassion 
for  the  sinner ;  the  splendors  of  more  than  an  angel¬ 
ic  nature,  with  the  humility  of  a  little  child  ;  a  re¬ 
solved  perseverance  in  the  path  of  duty  which  no  ar¬ 
ray  of  dangers  could  deter,  with  a  heart  so  attuned 
to  compassion  that  the  faintest  appeal  ol  misery  ar¬ 
rested  his  progress  as  with  the  power  ol  omnipo¬ 
tence,  and  made  him  stand  still.  While  he  seemed 
to  do  every  thing  for  the  future,  he  yet  neglected 
nothing  proper  to  the  present ;  while  lie  held  him¬ 
self  ready  to  embrace  the  mightiest  plans,  and  evinc¬ 
ed  a  consciousness  that  he  stood  related  to  the 
whole  species,  he  yet  stooped,  without  trifling,  to  the 
smallest  circumstance.  Like  the  Almighty  Father, 
sustaining  the  worlds,  yet  stooping  to  succor  the  fall¬ 
ing  bird ;  he  one  moment  conversed  with  celestial 
visitants,  and  the  next  he  listened  to  the  lispings  ol 
infant  praise,  or  meekly  bore  the  obtuseness  of  his 
disiciples.  He,  who  received  the  homage  of  angels, 
and  had  all  their  legions  at  command,  sees  wealth  in 
the  tribute  of  a  sinful  woman’s  tears,  and  finds  the 
sweetest  music  in  the  dying  thanks  of  the  guilty 
malefactor.  Having  driven  demons  from  his  pres¬ 
ence  with  an  awful  rebuke,  he  takes  up  little  children 
to  his  heart ;  and  they  feel  in  his  looks  the  secu¬ 
rity  of  home,  and  in  his  tones  an  assurance  of  love 
which  makes  them  reluctant  to  leave  his  arms, 
even  for  the  welcome  of  a  mother’s  bosom.  Having 
portrayed  the  judgment  of  the  last  day,  and  clothed 
himself  with  thunder  as  the  central  object  of  the 
awful  scene,  he  follows  the  first  beck  of  misery,  or 
turns  aside  to  weep  over  the  hardness  of  human 
hearts.  Having  proclaimed  himself  “  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  and  the  life';”  how  easily  does  he  descend  from 
his  dignity  to  mingle  his  tears  with  the  bereaved 
mourners !  Universal  philanthropy  did  not  impair 
his  sensibility  to  the  pleasures  ot  private  friendships 
and  domestic  intercourse ;  nor  did  the  momentous^ 
interests  which  pressed  on  his  soul  in  the  crisis  ot 
the  world’s  redemption  prevent  him  from  thinking  of 


334 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

his  filial  relation,  and  tenderly  providing  for  a  moth¬ 
er’s  comfort.  Never  was  there  a  character  at  the 
same  time  so  magnificent  and  unlabored ;  so  con¬ 
scious  of  greatness,  and  so  .unostentatiously  simple; 
so  full  of  inspiration  to  the  good,  and  so  free  from 
terror ;  so  replete  with  encouragement  to  the  out¬ 
cast  penitent.  In  his  character  met  the  whole  con¬ 
stellation  of  the  virtues,  each  one  made  brighter  by 
contrast:  but  one  overpowering  sentiment  softened 
and  subjected  them  all  to  itself;  one  all-pervading 
law  gave  unity  and  harmony  to  his  most  opposite 
actions  ;  interpreting  all  his  words  and  looks  ;  pre¬ 
venting  him,  even  in  the  most  critical  situations,  from 
being  at  variance  with  himself,  falling  below  his  pro¬ 
fessed  object — and  that  sentiment,  that  law,  was  love. 

In  the  history  of  his  miracles,  we  see  almighty 
power  itself  consenting  to  be  led  by  love,  and  conse¬ 
crated  to  its  service.  Had  he  only  intended  to  pro¬ 
duce  impressions  of  his  majesty,  or  prove  the  divini¬ 
ty  of  bis  mission,  he  might  perhaps  have  accomplish¬ 
ed  this  sooner  by  appealing  to  our  fears  in  miracles 
of  terror  and  destruction.  But  the  object  he  aimed 
at,  and  the  truths  he  taught,  were  both  of  a  benevo¬ 
lent  nature  ;  and  the  miracles  he  performed  in  con¬ 
firmation  of  those  truths  partook  of  the  same  char¬ 
acter.  He  refused  but  one  application  to  his  miracu¬ 
lous  power ;  when  his  disciples  rashly  desired  that 
fire  might  descend  from  heaven  on  their  enemies; 
but  he  reminded  them  that  he  came  “not  to  destroy 
men’s  lives,  but  to  save  them.”  On  the  night  of  his 
apprehension,  he  touched  the  wound  of  an  enemy 
and  healed  it ;  for  with  him,  power  and  kindness  were 
the  same  thing.  Wherever  he  came,  disease  and 
suffering  fled  from  his  presence.  His  path  might  be 
traced  from  place  to  place  in  lines  of  life,  and  health, 
and  joy.  Where  he  was  expected,  the  public  way  was 
thronged  with  forms  of  helplessness,  disease,  and  woe. 
Where  he  had  passed,  the  restored  might  be  seen, 
making  trial  of  their  new-found  powers  ;  listeners, 
formed  into  groups  to  hear  the  tale  of  healing ;  and 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.  335 

the  delighted  objects  of  his  compassion,  rehearsing, 
with  earnestness,  what  had  passed,  imitating  his 
tones,  and  even  trying  to  convey  an  idea  of  his  con¬ 
descending  ways.  His  voice  was  the  first  sound 
which  many  of  them  heard ;  his  name  the  first  word 
they  had  pronounced  ;  his  blessed  form  the  first  sight 
they  had  ever  beheld.  And  often,  at  the  close  of  a 
laborious  day,  when  his  wearied  frame  required  re¬ 
pose,  the  children  of  affliction  besieged  his  retreat, 
and  implored  his  help.  And  did  they  ever  seek  in 
vain!  Wearied  and  worn  as  he  was,  “he  pleased 
not  himself;”  he  went  forth,  and  patiently  listened 
to  all  their  tales  of  woe,  tasted  their  several  com¬ 
plaints,  raised  each  suppliant  from  the  dust,  nor  left 
them  till  he  had  absorbed  their  sufferings,  and  heal¬ 
ed  them  all.  He  went  through  the  land  like  a  cur¬ 
rent  of  vital  air,  an  element  of  life,  diffusing  health 
and  joy  wherever  he  appeared.  Had  the  spiritual 
object  of  his  advent  permitted  the  continuance  of 
his  abode  on  earth,  he  would  have  become  the  shrine 
at  which  all  disease  would  have  knelt,  the  center  to 
which  all  suffering  would  have  tended  as  by  a  law  ; 
to  him  the  world  of  the  afflicted  would  have  gone  as 
on  pilgrimage ;  and  would  it  not  then  have  been 
equally  true,  that  “  he  healed  them  all  ?” 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  !  who  can  declare  thee  !  thou 
wast  the  heart  of  infinite  love,  beating  and  bleeding 
for  human  happiness!  How  didst  thou  consult  our 
wants,  and  adapt  thyself  to  our  condition  !  Among 
the  ignorant,  thou  wast  the  light  of  life  ;  when  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  needy,  thou  wast  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead.  When  didst  thou  disregard  the  cry  of 
suppliant  misery  ?  thy  daily  path,  like  the  radiance 
left  by  one  of  the  splendors  of  the  firmament  in  its 
midnight  path,  was  marked  with  simple  but  sublime 
glory ;  for,  with  thee,  the  close  of  one  act  of  benefi¬ 
cence  was  the  commencement  of  another;  thou 
didst  dispense  thy  blessings  so  profusely,  as  if  thou 
hadst  forgotten  that  thou  wert  a  man  upon  earth,  and 
didst  think  thyself  still  on  thy  throne.  Why  did 
28 


336 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

sorrow  come  to  thee  to  have  its  tears  wiped  away ! 
and  conscious  guilt  fall  at  thy  feet  with  an  uplifted 
eye  of  hope !  why  did  unsheltered  weakness  run,  as 
by  instinct,  to  take  sanctuary  in  thy  presence  !  and 
penitence  lay  bare  its  wounds  to  catch  the  balm  that 
tell  from  thy  lips  !  blessed  Jesus,  thou  hadst  a  balm 
for  every  wound. 

Thou  hadst  come  to  seek  companionship  with 
sorrow  ;  yet  didst  thou  not  frown  upon  the  social 
amenities  of  life,  but  didst  affably  partake  of  them. 
Every  action  of  thine  was  inlaid  with  grace  ;  even 
aversion,  with  thee,  was  not  hatred,  but  only  sorrow 
heightened  into  concern.  Thy  mercy  was  not  proud 
and  imperial  in  its  blessings  ;  thou  didst  condescend 
and  love  to  be  thanked  ;  and,  O,  if  gratitude  melted 
into  penitence,  thou  didst  proclaim  a  jubilee  in  hea¬ 
ven,  and  invite  the  universe  to  share  in  thy  joy. 

And  why  wast  thou  thus  benignant  ?  It  was  not 
because  thou  hadst  been  surprised  into  a  career  of 
mercy,  and  couldst  not  draw  back  ;  for  thou  hadst 
looked  into  the  darkest  recesses  of  depravity  in  the 
human  heart,  and  sounded  the  lowest  depths  of  hu¬ 
man  misery,  before  thou  earnest  to  expiate  and  re¬ 
lieve  :  it  was  not  that,  as  man  often  will,  thou  didst 
compromise  with  sin,  or  indulge  compassion  at  the 
expense  of  truth;  for  thou  wast  a  martyr  to  fidelity, 
and  a  sacrifice  for  sin :  nor  was  it  that  thy  character 
was  all  yielding  and  undistinguishing  softness !  for 
while  thou  wast  as  an  altar  at  which  the  lowliest 
could  kneel,  like  an  altar  also  thou  didst  check  the 
profane  look,  and  command  veneration  from  the 
passer  by:  nor  was  it  that  the  world  caressed  thee  ; 
thy  injuries  might  have  taught  patience  itself  to 
blaspheme ;  yet  didst  thou  remain  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart,  and  persist  in  turning  the  tears  of  the  world 
into  smiles. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth!  who  can  declare  thee!  In 
thee  wisdom  and  goodness  were  in  conjunction  with 
holiness  and  power.  All  who  treated  with  thee  tast¬ 
ed  of  goodness,  of  divinity ;  thine  actions,  if  distrib- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


337 


buted  over  the  course  of  time,  might  have  formed  its 
eras  ;  thy  virtues  were  dowries  sufficieut  to  enrich  a 
world  ;  thy  character  was  glory  set  in  grace. 

II.  With  this  impression  of  our  Lord’s  benignity, 
let  us,  secondly,  proceed  to  some  of  the  circumstan¬ 
ces  which  evince  his  benevolence  as  a  Teacher. 

And  here  we  may  as  well,  at  once,  dispose  of  an 
objection  ;  and  it  is  I  believe,  the  only  shadow  of  an 
objection  which  can  be  found  in  the  whole  compass 
of  the  evangelical  narratives,  to  the  tenderness  ot 
Christ,  in  the  capacity  of  a  Teacher;  arising  Irom 
the  reason  he  assigns  for  speaking  in  parables,  un 
one  occasion,  “the  disciples  came,  and  said  unto 
him,  Why  speakest  tliou  unto  them  in  parables  .  He 
answered,  and  said  unto  them,  Because  unto  you  it 
is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  ot 

heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given; - •  therefore 

speak  I  unto  them  in  parables :  because  they  seeing, 
see  not;  and  hearing,  they  hear  not;  neither  do  they 
understand.  And  in  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy 
of  Isaiah,  which  saitli,  By  hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and 
shall  not  understand;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and 
shall  not  perceive :  for  this  people’s  heart  is  waxed 
gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  ot  hearing,  and  then 
eyes  have  they  closed  ;  lest  at  any  time  they  should 
see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and 
should  understand  with  [their  heart,  and  should  be 
converted,  and  I  should  heal  them.”  From  this  re¬ 
ply,  many  have  inferred  that  our  Lord  addiessed  the 
Jews  on  that  occasion  in  parables,  that  they  might 
not  understand:  an  inference  which  was  probably 
suggested  by  the  apparent  seventy  of  the  quotation 
from  the  prophet.  But  let  us  only  remember  the 
canon — that  it  is  common  for  God  to  speak  by  Ins 
prophets,  of  events  that  would  happen,  in  a  manner 
aS  if  he  had  enjoined  them— and  all  appearance  of 
severity  will  vanish. 

That  the  employment  of  parables  was  not  meant, 
by  Christ,  as  an  act  of  judicial  severity,  is  evident 
from  the  following  considerations:  First,  it  was  an 


338 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ordinary  and  prevailing  mode  of  instruction.  Sec¬ 
ondly,  the  question  with  which  he  prefaced  his  para¬ 
bles,  “  Whereunto  shall  we  liken  the  kingdom  of 
God  ?”  evinced  a  gracious  anxiety  to  make  himself 
understood  by  selecting  similitudes  adapted  to  their 
capacity.  Thirdly,  there  is  every  i-eason  to  conclude 
that,  had  they  gone  to  him  afterwards  for  an  exposi¬ 
tion  of  the  parables,  he  would  have  shown  delight  at 
the  application,  and  have  promptly  met  their  inqui¬ 
ries.  Fourthly,  he  continued  the  parabolic  strain  to 
his  disciples  after  the  multitude  had  retired  ;  a  proof 
that  he  had  not  adopted  that  strain  in  anger.  Fifth¬ 
ly,  he  frequently  spoke  in  parables  at  other  times, 
when  his  only  object  was  evidently  to  allure  and  in¬ 
struct.  Sixthly,  the  contrary  supposition  is  at  vari¬ 
ance  with  all  we  know  of  his  benevolent  character. 
The  motive  of  our  Lord  for  speaking  in  parables  on 
this  occasion,  was  no  doubt,  to  avoid  the  malice  of 
his  enemies ;  for  his  subject,  which  related  to  the 
progress  of  his  kingdom,  would  call  forth  all  the  in¬ 
genuity  and  activity  of  that  malice.  And  hence  the 
reason  he  assigns  for  adopting  this  mode  is,  that  their 
wickedness  had  disqualified  them  for  listening  to 
more  explicit  teaching,  and  deprived  them  of  it. 
His  speaking  to  them  by  parables,  then  so  far  from 
being  an  act  of  judicial  severity,  was  a  device  of 
kindness,  the  recourse  of  compassion.  They  could 
not  look  on  the  open  face  of  truth,  and  he  veiled  it. 
Their  morbid  sensibility  and  malice  left  him  no  al¬ 
ternative,  but  to  be  indirect  on  this  particular  subject, 
or  entirely  silent.  Displeasure  would  have  chosen 
the  latter,  but  compassion  adopted  the  former. 
Rather  than  be  quite  silent,  he  addressed  them  by 
parable ;  for  to  have  taken  the  truth  out  of  this  cas¬ 
ket,  would  have  been  casting  pearls  before  swine.  It 
is  true,  that  in  its  effect  it  operated  as  a  judgment, 
for  they  disregarded  its  meaning  ;  but  we  are  not,  on 
that  account,  to  disparage  his  grace,  any  more  than 
we  impeach  the  conduct  of  the  sower,  some  of 
whose  seed  fell  where  it  took  no  root.  Life  itself  is 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


339 


a  parable,  a  course  of  instruction  by  events  ;  each  of 
which,  if  rightly  construed,  is  found  to  contain  a 
useful  lesson ;  but  neglected,  it  leaves  us  in  igno¬ 
rance  and  aggravated  guilt  ;and  yet  who  does  not  see 
that  it  is  a  mode  of  instruction  consistent  with  kind¬ 
ness,  and  even  dictated  by  love  ?  We  might  there¬ 
fore,  without  any  refining,  place  the  conduct  of 
Christ  on  this  occasion,  among  the  illustrations  of 

his  benevolence  as  a  Teacher. 

But  other  and  superior  illustrations  demand  our 
attention.  Had  the  object  of  Jesus  been  merely  to 
leave  in  our  possession  a  revelation  of  the  will  of  God, 
he  would  have  dispensed  with  that  tender  solicitude 
which  marked  his  conduct,  and  have  confined  him¬ 
self  exclusively  to  the  design  of  his  mission.  But 
he  came  to  enlighten,  only  that  he  might  save ;  and, 
like  a  wise  and  kind  instructor,  he  clothed  himself  in 
love  that  he  might  gain  for  his  instructions  a  place 
in  our  heart.  To  this  end  it  was  that  he  chose  to 
move  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life.  Every  condition 
of  society  was  open  to  his  choice,  and  human  taste 
would  have  selected  a  state  of  wealth,  and  rank,  and 
worldly  influence  ;  but  this  would  have  removed 
him  from  the  society  of  the  people  ;  whereas  his  ob¬ 
ject  was  to  make  himself  one  with  theft.  He  select¬ 
ed  others  to  assist  him  in  preaching  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  but  he  asked  not  philosophy  to  argue  in  its 
defence,  or  poetry  to  sing  its  praise,  or  Ju 

pour  forth  its  oratory,  or  royalty  to  clothe  it  with 
state  or  arm  it  with  power.  The  instrumentality  he 
employed  was  of  the  humblest  order ;  was,  like s  him¬ 
self,  “  raised  up  from  among  the  people,  and  there¬ 
fore  adapted  to  gain  the  attention  of  the  people. 

He  regarded  himself  as  specially  anointed  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.”  Had  human  pride 
been  consulted  on  the  subject,  it  would  fain  have  had 
splendor  follow  in  his  train,  and  wealth  pour  out  its 
treasures  before  him,  and  ambition  receive  titles  and 
honors  at  his  hands.  It  would  have  had  his  gospel 
patronized  by  the  great  and  mighty  of  the  earth  , 
F  28* 


340  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

and  then  it  would  have  mingled  among  them,  and 
enrolled  its  name  among  his  followers.  But  the 
great  distinction  of  his  ministry,  and  the  fact  in 
which  he  gloried,  was,  that  the  poor  had  the  gospel 
preached  to  them.  This  was  a  stretch  of  philanthro¬ 
py  unknown  to  the  philosophers  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  The  transcendant  idea  of  propagating  a  uni¬ 
versal  religion — a  system  which  should  include  the 
multitudes  who  throng  the  highways  and  thorough¬ 
fares  of  life,  which  should  convert  religion  into  daily 
bread  for  the  poor — was  reserved  for  him  who  came 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  could 
not  look  on  the  exigencies  and  evils  peculiar  to  their 
condition  ;  could  not  witness  the  neglect  and  scorn 
to  which  they  were  subjected,  and  of  which  in  the 
present  day  it  is  not  easy  to  form  an  adequate  con¬ 
ception,  without  feeling  his  compassion  stirred  with¬ 
in  him.  Among  the  most  civilized  and  polished  na¬ 
tions,  they  were  prostrate  in  the  dust.  For  them 
philosophy  disdained  an  interest  as  utterly  beneath 
her  notice  ;  as  having  nothing  sufficiently  vulgar  for 
their  taste.  For  them  the  law  had  no  protecting 
arm,  justice  no  balances ;  right,  if  it  spoke  at  all, 
spoke  in  a  voice  scracely  to  be  heard  ;  and  kindness, 
if  it  deigned  a  look,  regarded  them  with  a  counte- 
ance  which  indicated  a  heart  at  ease  and  devoid  of 
sympathy.  For  their  darkness,  religion,  that  is  to 
say,  the  religion  which  prevailed  had  no  ray  of  light, 
nor  did  a  drop  of  its  consolation  fall  into  their  cup. 
Even  in  Judea  itself  they  were  treated  as  the  refuse 
of  society,  and  as  cut  off  from  the  favor  of  God. 
“  This  people  that  knoweth  not  the  law,”  said  the 
proud  Pharisees,  “  are  cursed this  ignorant  and 
contemptible  class,  are  forsaken  of  God,  and  doom¬ 
ed  to  destruction.  Now  it  was  to  rescue  them 
from  this  oppressed  and  degraded  state,  to  plead 
their  cause,  to  redress  their  wrongs,  to  wipe  away 
their  tears,  to  raise  them  to  that  level  which  they 
ought  to  maintain,  as  heirs  of  immortality,  in  com¬ 
mon  with  those  around  them,  that  Jesus  preached 


HIS  tenderness  and  benevolence. 


341 


his  gospel  to  the  poor.  Numerically  considered,  even 
they  might  have  claimed  his  chief  attention,  lor  he 
saw  that  they  formed  the  large  majority  of  eveiy 
land:  but  their  condition,  more  than  their  numbers, 
touched  his  heart.  He  came  down  from  the  throne 
of  his  glory,  and  mingled  with  the  despised  and  neg¬ 
lected  poor.  He  delighted  their  ears  with  assurances 
of  the  divine  regard.  He  invited  them  to  rest  their 
heads  on  the  bosom  of  Providence.  He  sought  to 
lighten  the  burdens  of  their  heart,  and  to  support 
their  steps  with  the  staff  of  the  divine  regard  He 
aimed  to  give  them  the  wisdom  which  maketli  wise 
unto  salvation.  While  he  showed  them  that  sin  is 
the  most  grievous  poverty,  that  sin  had  robbed  and 
stripped  them  of  all  their  spiritual  wealth,  lie  taught 
them  the  art  of  happiness,  the  secret  ot  amassing 
imperishable  wealth,  and  of  treasuring  it  up  in  hea¬ 
ven.  “  And  the  common  people  heard  lnm  gladly. 

In  the  same  spirit  of  surpassing  benevolence  lie 
taught  them  gratuitously.  Though  the  knowledge  he 
imparted  was  beyond  the  price  of  rubies ;  though, 
at  times,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  Ins  head;  though 
weary  and  way-worn,  he  had  to  solicit  a  cup  of  cold 
water  from  the  hand  of  a  stranger  yet  he  labored 
without  money  and  without  price ;  the  only  rewaid 
he  desired,  was  a  tear  of  penitence,  and  the  cordial 

reception  of  his  message.  f 

And  the  mode  of  instruction  he  adopted  was  ot 
the  most  simple  description.  He  taught  no  abstract 
theories  inapplicable  to  the  affairs  of  life;  no  philo¬ 
sophic  systems  incomprehensible  to  ordinary  capa¬ 
cities  ;  dealt  in  no  cabalistic  lore  ;  sanctioned  no  dis¬ 
tinctions  of  philosophical  teaching.  Jewish  pride 
would  have  dictated  that  if  a  new  dispensation  was 
to  be  given,  it  should  be  proclaimed  immediately 
from  heaven ;  that,  amidst  the  splendors  of  another 
Sinai,  it  should  be  delivered  by  the  ministry  of  an¬ 
gels.  Had  the  taste  of  Greece  been  consulted  it  would 
have  been  required  that  the  gospel  should  be  an¬ 
nounced  in  all  the  studied  beauties  of  composition, 


342  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

supported  by  the  ingenious  reasonings,  and  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  airy  speculations  in  which  their  philo¬ 
sophers  were  accustomed  to  propound  their  flimsy 
abstractions.  But  the  Great  Teacher  would  not  thus 
debase  bis  gospel,  and  frustrate  his  design.  lie 
sought  to  make  himself  universal ;  to  speak  to  hu¬ 
manity.  His  tongue  was  the  only  interpreter  for  his 
heart ;  and  he  aimed  to  render  his  teaching  a  contact 
of  hearts.  The  “key  of  knowledge  had  been  taken 
away,”  by  those  who  should  have  held  it  only  for  the 
people;  they  had  “shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven” 
from  the  poor,  and  leftt  hem  to  perish  ;  and,  while  he 
charged  them  with  this  awful  fraud  on  the  well-be¬ 
ing  of  man,  he  hastened  to  supply  the  perishing  with 
superior  means  of  salvation.  “He  sought  out,  and 
set  in  order,  acceptable  words.”  His  leading  topics 
were  few,  that  he  might  not  confuse ;  but  so  person¬ 
al  and  important,  that  they  found  a  response  and  in¬ 
terpreter  in  every  bosom.  He  simplified  knowledge, 
and  reduced  it  to  its  elements:  now  removing  the 
veil  from  an  aucient  prophecy,  now  uttering  a  touch¬ 
ing  parable,  now  a  graphic  illustration  from  familiar 
life,  now  an  easy  precept  or  weighty  truth,  and  pres¬ 
ently  returning  again  to  place  the  same  truth  in  a 
new  light.  Though  all  the  science  of  eternity  was 
hid  in  his  mind,  and  the  unspeakable  words  which  it 
is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter  could  have  flown 
from  his  tongue,  he  delighted  to  be  known  as  the 
teacher  of  babes.  He  lowered  himself  down  to  their 
capacity,  waited  on  their  dullness,  tasted  knowledge 
for  them,  and  fed  them  with  food  convenient  for 
them.  He  went  about  as  the  bread  of  life. 

And  the  simplicity  of  his  teaching  was  only  in 
accordance  with  its  compassionate  design — to  con¬ 
sole  the  wretched.  The  effect  of  sorrow  is  to  re¬ 
duce  our  nature  to  its  elements  ;  to  suspend  our  in¬ 
tellectual  powers,  and  resolve  us  into  creatures  of 
mere  feeling  ;  to  shut  up  every  avenue  but  that  which 
leads  to  the  heart.  He  knew  that  grief  thus  simpli¬ 
fies  our  nature,  and  he  provided  a  remedy  equally 


His  tenderness  and  benevolence. 


343 


Sunni'3  He  imparted  truths  to  which  the  heart  lis¬ 
tens  and  which  the  heart  alone  can  understand  -  foi 
lie  held  the  heart  of  the  world  in  his  hand  ,  an 
knowing  the  secret  of  all  its  sympathies,  he  commun¬ 
ed  witli° its  weakness  and  sorrows  by  method8  pecu¬ 
liarly  his  own.  Sorrow  was,  in  Ins  eyes  among  the 

mol  sacred  tilings  lie  found  on  earth  :  and  tad .i^uot 
been  so  before,  the  reverent  attention  with  \Uncn  ne 
honored  it,  and  the  simple  and  sympathetic  terms  i 
which  he  addressed  it,  would  have  mad 
He  knew  also  that  the  time  of  affliction  wouid  be  ti e 
season  when  numbers  would  first  direct  a  look  to 
!he  eospel  for  relief;  when  help,  if  it  came  to  them 
it  all  must  come  without  effort ;  when  the  staff  must 
not  onk  be  provided,  but  actually  put  into  their  hand. 
And  knowing  this,  he  published  hl!!  fospe  ;h 

tern  of  consolation  lor  the  miserable  ,  and  they  w 
Lnow  it  best  are  the  readiest  to  confess  how  fully  it 
answers  to  the  character;  after  the  trial  of  ages,  U 
maintains  its  prerogative  of  binding  up  the  bioken 

h  Even  the  places  in  which  he  taught .evinced hit icon- 
descension.  If  he  discoursed  in  die  temple,  it  wa 
not  from  anv  regard  to  its  vastness,  splendor,  01  cn- 
cmnstan  JLnc”, itv ,  for,  in  his  eyes ,  it  t .as  on  y 
mausoleum  of  piety,  the  tomb  of  a  departed  dispen 
Sn  but  because  he  could  there  teach  before  ‘all 
the  people;”  could  there,  especially  at  the  gi eat  fes¬ 
tivals  when  it  became  the  center  of  attraction,  could 
there  meet  with,  and  appeal  to,  the  heart  of  the  na 
,ion  But  during  his  ministry,  it  could  be  said  htei- 
ally,'  “Wisdom  crieth  without;  in  the  chief  co  - 
coulee  of  the  people.”  The  sh.p,  the  strand  ,  ge  de- 
,prt  the  mountain,  were  as  elegible  in  his  view,  as 
£e  city  and  the  temple,  for  the  work  of  saving  souls 

rXtodrte  Stt  of Ms 

“cable  of  the  lost  sheep,  tracers, ng  with  un- 


344 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

wearied  zeal,  the  moral  wilderness  of  Judea,  in  quest 
of  “  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.” 

Wherever  he  found  a  multitude  disposed  to  listen, 
he  was  prompt  to  address  to  them  the  words  of  eter¬ 
nal  life.  Some  present  object,  some  late  occurrence 
or  familiar  incident,  was  the  point  from  which  he  led 
them,  step  by  step,  up  an  easy  ascent,  to  themes  of 
heavenly  altitude,  of  infinite  importance.  He  was  al¬ 
ways  ready  to  gratify  the  inquirer,  provided  his  in¬ 
quiries  were  made  with  sincerity,  and  were  such  as 
he  could  solve  with  propriety.  Though  he  often  en¬ 
joined  his  disciples  to  tell  no  man  where  he  was — 
for  in  his  life  were  combined  the  active  and  contem¬ 
plative  in  perfect  proportions,  yet  the  eager  suppliant 
who  should  succeed,  at  such  times,  in  discovering 
and  penetrating  his  retreat,  never  encountered  a  re¬ 
pulse,  even  though  “  he  came  to  Jesus  by  night.” 
Over  the  door  of  his  most  sacred  retreat  may  be  said 
to  have  been  inscribed,  “  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  open¬ 
ed.”  When  his  disciples  came  to  him  in  private,  to 
request  an  explanation  of  the  statements  he  had  been 
making  in  public,  he  was  always  ready  to  descend  to 
their  low  capacities,  and  to  gratify  their  desires. 
When  Peter  replied  to  his  inquiry  concerning  his 
personal  claims,  “  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God ;”  like  a  teacher  charmed  with  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  his  pupil,  and  anxious  to  encourage  him,  he 
pronounced  him  blessed,  and  rewarded  him  with  an 
animating  promise.  He  watched  the  progress  of  his 
disciples,  however  slow  with  more  than  parental  de¬ 
light.  He  spoke  in  accents  of  encouragement  to  pi¬ 
ety  of  the  weakest  pulse  ;  feeding  it  with  line  upon 
line,  and  invigorating  it  with  promise  upon  promise. 

Lessons  unwelcome  to  our  depravity,  but  impor¬ 
tant  to  our  happiness,  he  not  only  repeated  often,  but 
even  devised  the  most  condescending  expedients  to 
make  them  live  in  our  minds.  His  disciples  had  of¬ 
ten  contested  the  question  of  precedence  in  his  king¬ 
dom.  He  could  at  once  have  rebuked  their  ambition 
with  a  denunciation  of  wrath,  have  withered  their 


IIX3  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


345 


pride  with  a  frown;  but,  in  accordance  with  his 
characteristic  benevolence,  he  chose  t0  a  • 

them  by  an  affecting  sign  winch  they  c°u  O  j« 
lv  forget.  How  beautiful,  affecting,  and  instructive 
the  si-lit !  The  Lord  of  glory  folding  in  Ins  arms  a 
helpless  babe,  as  an  emblem  of  the  hum'btj ’  wk.ch 
adorns  his  kingdom.  Humility,  from  that  day,  nee 
to  plead  no  other  sanction  for  her  lowliest  acts. 

Often  had  he  inculcated  the  condescending ^oflices 
of  brotherly  love,  for  well  he  knew  that,  like  the  » 
aments  and  arterial  net-work  of  the  human i  fi™  _> 
the  health  and  happiness  of  Ins  body—fhe  chuic 
depended  on  their  binding  power  and  reciprocating 
influence.  But  by  what  new  expedient  can  he  deep¬ 
en  the  effect  of  his  past  lessons  ?  “  Jesus  Rowing 

that  the  Father  had  given  all  things  into  Ins  hand  , 
and  that  he  was  come  from  God,  and  went  to  Go  , 
he  riseth  from  supper,  and  laid  aside  gannen^s, 
and  took  a  towel,  and  girded  himself,  and  washed  his 
disciples’  feet.  When  he  was  about  to  ascend  to  the 
seat  of  universal  empire  ;  when  the  cross  alone  le- 
mained  between  him  and  the  government  of  heaven, 
earth,  and  hell ;  even  « then  he  took  a  towel  and  gn  d 
ed  himself,  and  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and  wash 
ed  “ciplesMeet,  and  wiped  them  with  the  towel 
wherewith  he  was  girded  ;  saying,  Ye  call  me  IV 
ter  and  Lord  i  and  ye  say  well,  for  so  I'm.  It 
then,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have  washedjom  fret, 
ve  also  ought  to  wash  one  another  s  feet ,  to  c 
descend  to  the  lowest  office  of  Christian  beneficence 
and  love.  Beyond  this,  he  might  have  said,  ye  can- 

H°But  O,  there  was  another  lesson  to  be  taught,  the 
highest,  and  the  last ;  a  lesson  comprehensive  of  eve¬ 
ry  other  •  and  he  sought  to  steep  it  in  the  essence  of 
Ids  tenderness  and  love.  He,  who  had  laid  aside  his 
garments  to  wash  his  disciples’  feet,  and  laid  aside 
his  robes  of  celestial  light  and  taken  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  that  he  might  become  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.  1  he  sam 


346 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


night,  therefore,  in  which  he  was  betrayed  he  took 
bread  :  and  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it, 
and  said,  “  Take  eat :  this  is  my  body,  which  is  bro¬ 
ken  for  you  :  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me.”  Thus 
tenderly  did  he  seek  to  impress  us  with  the  great 
love  wherewith  he  loved  us  :  to  remind  us  how  es¬ 
sential  he  is  to  our  happiness ;  and  to  live  in  our  fer¬ 
vent  affections.  By  this  touching  right,  he  would 
have  us  to  erect  his  cross  in  our  minds,  that  we  may 
hold  personal  and  perpetual  communion  with  his  dy¬ 
ing  love.  He  gives  into  our  hands  the  doctrine  of 
his  atoning  sacrifices,  charging  us  to  keep  it — by  all 
that  is  sacred  in  his  death,  precious  in  his  love,  valu¬ 
able  in  our  own  happiness — charging  us  to  keep  it 
embalmed  in  his  own  blood.  He  gloried  in  his  cross 
as  the  pillar  of  human  hope  ;  the  column  on  which 
he  desired  that  his  own  name  might  be  inscribed  as 
the  great  memento  of  his  love  to  man,  as  that  single 
act  by  which  he  is  content  to  be  known,  and  on  which 
he  desires  to  rest  his  claim  on  the  eternal  gratitude 
of  the  world.  Knowing  the  power  which  it  would 
give  him  on  human  hearts,  he  has  made  his  cross  the 
depository  of  all  the  doctrines  of  salvation. 

III.  But,  thirdly,  our  professed  object  requires  that 
we  should  present  examples  from  our  Lord’s  teach¬ 
ing  illustrative  of  his  tenderness  and  benevolence. 
“  Learn  of  me,”  said  he,  “  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly 
of  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.” 
This  is  the  character  which  he  gave  of  himself  as  a 
teacher ;  and  the  only  instance  in  which  he  laid 
claim  to  human  excellences.  And  who  will  not  ac¬ 
cord  to  him  the  amiable  qualities  which  he  here 
claims  ?  When  first  he  opened  his  lips  in  the  syna¬ 
gogue  of  Nazareth,  the  audience  wondered  at  the  gra¬ 
cious  words  that  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth.  And 
the  description  of  his  benevolent  commission,  which 
he  then  read  from  the  prophet,  and  distinctly  appro¬ 
priated  to  himself,  seems  intended  to  throw  forward 
a  tender  and  mellowing  light  on  the  whole  of  his  af¬ 
ter  course.  By  informing  us  at  first  of  the  gracious 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


347 


character  he  meant  to  sustain,  he  seems  to  seek,  to 
disarm  our  opposition,  to  invite  our  confidence,  to  ask 
us  to  meet  his  tenderness  with  a  corresponding  feel- 
in<r  of  affectionate  reliance.  From  a  certain  date, 
too,  in  his  public  ministrations,  his  teaching  must 
have  acquired  a  very  affectionate  character,  from  his 
frequent  allusions  to  his  approaching  sufferings  and 
death.  “  From  that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  show  his 
disciples,  how  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suf¬ 
fer  many  things  of  the  elders,  and  chief  priests,  and 
scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be  raised  again  the  third 
day.”  Up  to  that  time  he  had  but  obscurely  alluded 
to  the  subject :  but  suddenly  he  lays  naked  to  their 
view — the  cross  ;  he  speaks  of  coming  sorrows,  ap¬ 
proaching  sufferings,  impending  death  ;  he  paints  a 
scene  in  which  he  appears  the  principal  object,  bend- 
in"  under  the  weight  of  a  cross,  spit  upon,  scourged, 
crucified,  the  victim  of  human  and  infernal  malice. 
Most  probably,  as  often  as  he  adverted  to  the  topic, 
his  voice  took  deeper  and  more  tender  tones,  and  his 
countenance  assumed  a  more  solemn  aspect :  but 
whether  they  did  so  or  not,  his  teaching  which  had 
always  been  grave  and  pathetic,  had  from  this  time 
infused  into  it  a  new  element  of  solemnity  and  pa¬ 
thos.  Henceforth  he  stood  in  a  shadow,  wlr>h  threw 
on  him  a  tender  and  solemn  grandeur — the  shadow 
of  the  cross ;  and  while  speaking  from  that  position, 
his  promises  became  more  gracious,  and  his  com¬ 
mands  more  affecting  and  binding  than  ever. 

1.  The  first  sentence  he  uttered,  in  his  first  record¬ 
ed  discourse,  is  a  sample  of  the  spirit  he  breathed  in 
all  his  subsequent  addresses  ;  “  Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  To 
bless  men,  to  make  them  happy,  was  the  great  object 
for  which  he  descended  from  heaven.  He  came  in¬ 
to  the  world,  expressly,  to  bless  whatever  he  could, 
to  encourage  and  promote  it,  and  to  rescue  fiom 
earth  whatever  would  accord  with  the  purity,  and 
enhance  the  glorv,  of  the  world  from  which  he  came. 
Instead  of  using  the  lofty  and  imperative  style  of 


348  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

positive  command,  he  seems  to  dismiss  the  state  of 
supreme  authority,  to  lay  aside  the  character  of  the 
legislator,  and  to  appear  only  as  the  Saviour  and  the 
Friend  :  in  the  most  gentle  and  engaging  manner,  he 
insinuates  his  will,  and  our  duty,  by  pronouncing 
those  blessed  who  comply  with  it.  Blessing  after 
blessing  follow  each  other  in  quick  succession  ;  eve¬ 
ry  sentence  comes  from  his  lips  loaded  with  grace  ; 
like  the  gushing  forth  of  a  fountain  long  sealed  up 
they  showed  the  fullness  of  benevolence  which  pos¬ 
sessed  his  heart. 

Rejecting  the  minions  and  favorites  of  the  world, 
lie  selected  those  whom  the  world  disowns.  The 
poor  in  spirit,  the  meek,  the  holy,  the  sorrowful  and 
broken-hearted,  the  merciful,  the  sincere,  the  peace¬ 
ful,  the  persecuted,  the  orphans,  the  disinherited,  the 
rejected  of  the  world  ;  such  was  the  large  family  on 
whom  his  blessings  fell,  and  to  whom  he  opened  his 
arms,  and  welcomed  them  to  the  shelter  of  his  heart. 
Each  of  the  virtues  which  he  here  implies,  may  be 
regarded  as  a  separate  and  essential  feature  of  Chris¬ 
tian  excellence  ;  and,  as  he  adds  one  lineament  to  the 
portrait  after  another,  he  surveys  it  with  delight.  He 
sees  wealth  in  that  spiritual  poverty  more  ample  and 
enduring  than  all  the  treasures  which  earth  can 
boast ;  a  majesty  in  this  meekness  to  which  pride 
can  never  erect  itself ;  and,  in  this  Christian  sorrow, 
he  beholds  the  seeds  of  joy,  the  blossomings  of  glo¬ 
ry.  He  contemplates  it  in  reference  to  another  state 
of  being  ;  and  though  the  world  in  its  blindness  may 
hold  his  character  in  contempt,  he  knows  that  it  is 
such  as  angels  will  bless  ;  that  the  great  God,  seated 
on  the  throne  of  heaven,  pronounced  it  blessed,  re¬ 
peats  over  it  all  the  divine  beatitudes  ;  he  would  have 
us  to  know  that  when  it  departs  by  death  from  this 
earthly  scene,  he  raises  and  welcomes  it  into  his  own 
kingdom ;  and  that  when  every  mere  earthly  embel¬ 
lishment  shall  have  faded  and  disappeared,  he  will 
proclaim  it  happy  in  the  presence  of  the  universe, 
and  crown  it  with  glory  and  honor ;  that  it  is  a  char- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


349 


acter  whose  blessedness  eternity  itselt  will  ratify  and 
augment.  As  if  the  benevolence  of  God  had  forsa¬ 
ken  every  other  vent  to  find  a  channel  through  his 
lips,  thus  freely  and  copiously  did  he  pour  forth  his 
divine  benedictions. 

And  may  we  not  affirm,  without  a  paradox,  tnat 
it  was  in  the  exercise  of  this  same  benevolence  that 
he  uttered  those  denunciations  of  woe — if,  indeed, 
they  are  not  rather  to  be  regarded  as  exclamations 
of  pity — recorded  in  the  23d  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew.  The  compassion  which  brought  him 
from  heaven  dictated  these  denunciations ;  for  he 
uttered  them  in  the  defence  of  the  oppressed  and  the 
wretched.  Having  identified  himself  with  the  vic¬ 
tims  of  injustice,  he  stood  forth  in  their  behalf,  as 
one  who  felt  himself  personally  insulted  and  dishon¬ 
ored  by  their  wrongs.  He  would  be  known  to  the. 
avaricious,  the  proud,  and  unjust,  as  the  Patron  of. 
injured  humanity ;  taking  misery  within  the  pale  of 
the  divine  law,  and  extending  over  it  the  shield  of 
his  divine  protection.  But  even  his  denunciation  of 
“Woe!  Woe!”  ended  in  that  affecting  apostrophe, 

“O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, . how  often  would  I 

have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not !”  Like  the  thunder-cloud,  which,  having 
discharged  its  bolt  at  the  earth,  weeps  itselt  away, 
exhausts  itself  in  a  healing  shower  which  closes  the 
rent  it  had  made ;  so  his  pity  commisserates,  and 
pours  itself  forth  over  those  whom,  in  the  same 

breath,  he  had  felt  himself  called  to  rebuke. 

2.  In  the  same  discourse  which  opens  with  the 
beatitudes,  and  pervaded  with  the  same  compassion¬ 
ate  spirit,  we  meet  with  the  exhortation,  “Therefore 
I  say  unto  you,  Take  no  thought  for  your  life,  what 
ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink;  nor  yet  for  your 
body  what  ye  shall  put  on.  Is  not  the  life  more  than 
meat,  and  the  body  than  raiment  ?  Behold  the  fowls 
of  the  air :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap, 
nor  gather  tnto  barns ;  yet  your  heavenly  Father 


350 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? 
Which  of  you  by  taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit 
unto  his  stature  ?  And  why  take  ye  thought  for 
raiment?  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 
grow  ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  :  And  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  Wherefore,  if 
God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day  is, 
and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not 
much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?”  &c. 
Matt.  vi.  25 — 34-  This  is  one  of  the  beauties  of' 
scripture.  Had  it  no  other  recommendation  than  its 
felicity  of  illustration,  and  its  graces  of  composition,, 
it  would  deserve  our  warm  admiration ;  and  in¬ 
deed  it  has  received  the  tribute  of  admiration  from 
men  who  were  only  in  pursuit  of  literary  beauties.. 
But  it  has  higher  qualities  of  excellence  than  these  ; 
it  speaks  to  the  understanding  and  the  heart,  on 
themes  of  deep  and  universal  importance.  It  con¬ 
templates  the  world  laboring,  restless,  fevered  about 
the  petty  provisions  of  the  present  life  ;  causing  then- 
cup  of  sorrow  to  overflow,  by  holding  it  with  an  un¬ 
steady  hand  ;  anxiously  looking  onward  to  the  future, 
borrowing  the  distresses  of  the  morrow  to  aggravate 
those  of  the  present  day ;  loading  thetnselvess  with 
burdens  of  grief  which  do  not  belong  to  them,  and 
which  they  are  not  required  to  bear :  and,  surveying 
this  scene  of  overtoiled  labor,  and  sleepless  anxiety, 
and  wasting  solicitude,  in  which  mortals  are  em¬ 
broiled,  the  voice  of  Jesus,  the  friend  of  man,  the 
tender  sympathizer  with  human  woe,  is  heard,  rising 
in  tones  of  the  kindest  compassion,  above  the  sighs, 
and  plaints,  and  groans  of  the  multitude,  and  saying, 
“Peace,  be  still;  mourner,  dry  thy  tears;  ye,  who 
are  laden  with  the  self-imposed  burdens  of  worldly 
care,  deposit  the  heavy  load;  ye  destitute,  who  count 
yourselves  outcasts  of  the  world,  for  whom  no  one 
cares,  know  that  you  have  a  Father,  and  that  the 
God  of  providence  is  he.  Come,  learn  of  me,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest ;  I  will  allay  your  anxieties,  and 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


351 


lay  your  hearts  to  rest  on  the  bosom  of  that  paternal 
Providence  which  cares  and  provides  for  all  it  has 
made  ;  for  every  thing,  from  the  meanest  herb  which 
it  feeds  with  the  precious  dews,  up  to  the  immortal 
soul  on  which  it  pours  the  immediate  influences  ol 
the  divine  Spirit.” 

It  is  true,  that  the  books  of  pagan  morality  abound 
with  counsels  against  grief.  The  cup  of  sonow  is 
so  constantly  in  circulation,  passing  from  hand  to 
hand,  through  the  whole  family  of  man,  and  eveiy 
individual  has  so  surely,  sooner  or  later,  to  drink  a 
portion  of  the  bitter  draught ;  that  there  is  no  subject 
which  is  more  popular,  or  on  which  men  speak  more 
frequently  and  feelingly,  than  on  that  ol  human  exi¬ 
gence  and  sorrow  ;  and  none  which  it  is  more  easy 
to  reason  against,  showing  the  folly,  the  uselessness, 
and  injnriousness  of  excessive  solicitude,  hut  the 
reasonings  of  Christ  on  the  subject  have  this  vast 
distinction  of  superiority:  he  does  not  unfeelingly 
and  gratuitously  disparage  the  wants  and  the  trials 
of  life  ;  he  does  not  seek  to  degrade  our  nature  by 
divesting  us  of  feeling,  and  reducing  us  to  a  state  ol 
brutish  insensibility ;  he  would  have  us  to  believe 
that  our  earthly  cares  are  of  sufficient  importance  to 
engage  the  attention  of  the  Divine  Being ;  and,  m 
that  persuasion,  he  would  have  us  to  devolve  the  en¬ 
tire  burden  upon  him.  He  does  not  propose  to  give 
us  freedom  from  care,  merely  for  its  own  sake ;  nor 
does  he  seek  to  disengage  our  hearts  from  the  world 
without  filling  the  vacuum  with  a  new  object:  he 
would  replace  the  perishing  trifles  of  earth,  with  ob¬ 
jects  vast  as  our  wishes  and  permanent  as  our  being ; 
and  would  discharge  us  from  all  the  corroding  anxi¬ 
eties  of  time,  only  that  we  may  be  free  to  put  forth  all 
our  unincumbered  strength  in  the  pursuit  of  heaven. 
He  knows  that  our  whole  nature  is  reduced  to  a 
state  of  exigence  ;  not  the  body  merely,  but  also  the 
immortal,  imperishable  soul ;  and,  with  the  deep 
anxiety  of  true  friendship,  he  sees  that  our  extreme 
solicitude  about  this  life  entirely  disqualifies  us  for 
29* 


352 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


attending  to  the  eternal  exigencies  of  the  soul  ;  and 
would  fain,  therefore,  relieve  us  from  the  pressure  of 
the  present,  lest  we  should  lose  the  substance  in 
grasping  at  the  shadow.  He  assures  us,  therefore, 
in  accents  of  gracious  concern,  that  if  we  will  but 
seek  supremely  “the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  right¬ 
eousness,”  we  shall,  from  that  moment,  find  that 
God  is  our  Father  ;  that,  as  we  advance  from  stage 
to  stage  in  our  way  to  his  kingdom,  we  shall  find  the 
necessaries  of  life  ready,  and  waiting  our  arrival ; 
and  that  rather  would  he  move  all  nature,  and  put  all 
his  miraculous  agency  in  operation,  than  dishonor  his 
paternal  relation,  or  disappoint  the  confidence  we 
repose  in  his  word. 

3.  “  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon 
you,  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart :  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For 
my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light.”  Among 
the  numerous  illustrations  of  our  present  subject, 
which  spontaneously  rise  to  our  recollection,  this 
passage  is  one  of  the  first,  and  claims  our  attention 
by  its  pre-eminence  of  grace. 

A  message  from  the  Baptist,  which  is  related  at 
the  opening  of  the  chapter,  had  led  our  Lord  to  ad¬ 
vert  to  that  prevailing  impenitence  and  unbelief 
which  had  resisted  both  the  preaching  of  John,  and 
his  own  ministry  and  miracles.  “Woe  unto  thee,” 
said  he  ;  or,  “  Alas  for  the,  Chorazin  !  alas  for  thee, 
Bethsaida !”  He  might  have  called  down  fire  upon 
them,  like  that  which  desolated  the  cities  of  the 
plain  ;  for  he  affirmed,  that  their  guilt  exceeded  that 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  But  though  he  seems,  at 
the  moment,  to  have  taken  a  wide  survey  of  human 
depravity,  and  to  have  been  deeply  affected  at  the 
sight,  he  prayed  for  no  vengeance,  breathed  no  de¬ 
sire  to  relinquish  the  work  of  saving  ungrateful  man. 
On  the  contrary,  as  if  he  feared  that,  by  upbraiding 
the  people  for  their  unbelief,  he  had  been  placing 
himself  in  an  unwelcome  light;  as  if,  by  glancing  at 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


353 


the  topic,  he  had  been  actually  doing  violence  to  Ins 
own  benignity,  repressing  for  a  tune  the  current  ot 
benevolence  which  ever  flowed  through  Ins  heart ; 
as  if  he  now  felt  all  the  Saviour  return  again  into  his 
breast,  he  exclaimed  with  divine  compassion,  with 
an  irresistible  kindness  that  would  not  be  denied 
“  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  lo  add, 
force  to  his  appeal,  he  prefaces  it  with  a  declaration 
of  his  divine  relation  to  the  Father,  ot  the  identitj 
of  their  character,  and  of  the  fact  that,  as  our  Re¬ 
deemer,  all  things  are  delivered  into  his  hands. 
Therefore,  saitli  he,  “  Come,  and  partake.  All  things 
are  mine  ;  come,  and  share  them.  I  have  received 
them  for  your  enjoyment  and  use  ;  come  and  let  me 
confer  them  upon  you.  I  am  made  the  Treasurer, 
the  Almoner  of  all  the  riches  and  resources  ot  the 
divine  nature  ;  and  you  are  to  be  made  the  happy 
recipients  ;  come,  and  let  me  make  you  the  richer  by 

the  free  gift  of  eternal  life. 

Had  the  invitation  been  addressed  to  any  one  class 
exclusively,  how  invidious  an  office  would  it  have 
been  to  proclaim  the  gospel;  and  how  mound ul  the 
feelings  with  which  many  would  retire  from  healing 
it ;  for  they  would  find  that  it  was  not  meant  for 
them.  But  it  knows  no  such  exclusion.  It  addi es¬ 
ses  us  by  a  description  which  is  common  to  human¬ 
ity  ;  its  boast  and  glory  is,  that  it  is  intended  tor  a 
who  need  it,  all  who  labor  and  are  heavy  laden.  It 
does  not  even  pry  into  the  cause  of  our  restlessness  ; 
it  does  not  ask  what  occasions  our  distress  ;  it  only 
inquires  whether  or  not  we  are  the  subjects  ot  dis- 
ouietude.  If  we  can  look  within,  and  pronounce  all 
calm  and  tranquil  there  ;  if  we  can  look  around  on 
the  various  circumstances  and  lelations  ot  life,  1 
which  we  are  concerned — and  backwards  on  the 
history  of  our  past  life— and  forwards  into  the  eter¬ 
nal  future  which  we'  are  rapidly  approaching ;  it  on 
taking  this  survey,  we  can  see  no  cloud  in  the  whole 
horizon  to  disturb  our  repose  ;  then  may  we  take  it 
for  granted  the  invitation  was  not  meant  tor  us.  U 


354  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

if  we  can  point  out  one  whose  heart  is  corroded  by 
no  care,  restless  after  no  object,  disturbed  by  no  ap¬ 
prehension,  we  have  discovered  an  individual  unin¬ 
terested  in  this  appeal.  But  till  then,  it  admits  of  no 
restriction,  its  application  is  universal. 

In  uttering  it,  our  Lord  undoubtedly  selected  lan¬ 
guage  which  would  meet  the  condition,  and  fall 
soothingly  on  the  ear,  of  every  man.  lie  had  sur¬ 
veyed,  on  the  morning  of  creation,  the  vast  and 
disordered  abyss  of  chaos  ;  and  he  has  silenced  its 
tumults,  and  reduced  every  element  to  order.  He 
had  sailed  with  his  disciples,  in  a  storm  which  threat¬ 
ened  them  with  destruction,  and  had  calmed  it  to 
rest :  but  when  he  surveyed  the  condition  of  man, 
he  beheld  a  storm  more  furious  and  deadly  than  that 
which  raged  on  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  and  a  scene  of 
confusion  more  appalling  than  that  which  chaos  pre¬ 
sented  on  the  morning  of  creation.  His  eye  travel¬ 
ed  over  scenes  and  wastes  of  human  woe,  scenes  in 
which  he  saw  the  chains  of  captivity ;  the  pains  of 
superstition;  the  struggles  of  poverty:  the  disap¬ 
pointments  of  ambition;  the  misgivings  of  the  self- 
righteous;  and  the  exhausted  efforts  of  the  sinner, 
lashed  by  the  reproaches  of  an  angry  conscience,  and 
aiming  to  escape  from  a  load  of  guilt.  He  heard  the 
thickening  cries  of  misery;  his  ear  caught  a  sigh,  or 
a  sound  of  woe,  from  every  habitation,  every  breast 
of  man  ;  a  never-ebbing  tide  of  the  sounds  of  an¬ 
guish,  strife  and  death.  His  omniscience  penetrated 
every  heart,  and  saw  the  tooth  of  care  corroding  the 
peace  not  merely  of  the  poor  and  the  afflicted,  but 
preying  alike  on  the  learned,  the  wealthy,  and  the 
mighty  of  the  earth.  He  beheld  a  storm,  in  which 
every  one  was  seeking  for  shelter,  without  knowing 
where  to  obtain  it ;  and  voluntarily  exposing  him¬ 
self  to  all  its  horrors,  he  pressed  forth  into  the  midst 
of  it,  and  exclaimed,  with  a  heart  which  felt  and  bled 
for  them  all,  “  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.” 

This  is  an  invitation  from  which  no  peculiarity  in 
our  character  or  condition  can  possibly  exclude  us. 


Ills  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


355 


If  any  such  exception  could  be  named,  it  must  he  the 
peculiar  accumulation  of  our  guilt,  or  the  amount  ot 
our  misery;  but  this,  so  far  from  excluding,  brings 
us  more  completely  within  the  scope  ol  its  grace. 
Were  it  possible  for  a  man  to  unite  in  his  own  indi¬ 
vidual  person,  all  the  wants,  and  guilt,  and  capacities 
of  the  human  race,  the  invitation  would  only  address 
him  in  a  more  personal  manner,  and  with  a  deepei 
emphasis  of  compassion.  And  shall  all  this  benevo¬ 
lence  be  lost  on  us  ?  In  the  name  ot  all  that  is 
tender  and  gracious  he  urges  us  to  come.  He 
addresses  us  as  if  we  had  never  offended  him,  not 
had  rendered  it  necessary  that  he  should  suffer  on 
our  account;  as  if,  in  contemplating  our  wants,  he 
had  actually  forgotten  our  depravity  and  guilt.  In¬ 
deed,  had  he  himself  been  the  offending  party,  and 
had  entailed  on  us  all  the  evils  we  suffer,  he  could 
not  have  employed  language  more  affectionate,  nor 
have  manifested  greater  solicitude  to  relieve  us. 
Had  he  descended  from  heaven  to  announce  only 
this  single  invitation  to  our  guilty  race,  it  is  so  gia- 
ciously  adapted  to  our  condition,  that  it  would  have 
fully  justified  the  important  mission,  and  ought  to 
have  endeared  him  to  every  human  heart. 

4.  If  the  gospel  be  regarded  as  a  temple  ot 
spiritual  truth,  the  parables  of  our  Lord  may  be 
compared  to  paintings  with  which  he  has  adorned 
the  walls,  and  by  which  he  seeks  to  arrest  the  wan¬ 
dering  eye,  and  to  please  while  he  instructs.  Among 
these,  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son  never  fads  to 
attract  and  impress.  The  errors  ot  the  wanderer, 
his  sufferings,  his  bitter  tears,  his  penitential  leturn, 
the  melting  heart  of  that  indulgent  parent  who  ran 
to  welcome  to  his  arms,  and  weep  over,  Ins  long- 
lost  son  ;  how  many  eyes  have  looked  at  it  till  they 
have  filled  with  tears  ;  how  many  a  heart  has  melted 
before  it ;  how  many  a  penitent  has  it  first  inspired 
with  hope.  It  makes  an  appeal,  which  finds  a  re¬ 
sponsive  chord,  of  one  kind  or  another,  in  every 
bosom.  It  is  always  fresh,  and  always  welcome ; 
equally  affecting  us  in  infancy,  and  old  age. 


356 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


But  vhat  is  the  secret  of  its  subduing  influence  ?  It 
is  not  that  it  embodies  any  profound  philosophic 
truth  :  it  evinces  no  desire  to  affect ;  it  is  a  specimen 
of  unlabored  simplicity.  Much  of  its  power  is,  no 
doubt,  to  be  ascribed  to  that  graphic  minuteness  of 
detail  by  which  we  seem  placed  in  the  midst  of  the 
scene  described,  and  to  become  spectators  of  all  that 
transpires.  But  it  appeals  to  more  than  our  sympa¬ 
thy;  it  draws  in  our  heart,  and  creates  in  it  all  the 
interest  of  a  personal  event.  The  truth  is,  it  is  a 
picture  of  the  prodigal  and  ruined  world  come  to 
itself*  lamenting  its  wretchedness,  and  retracing  its 
wanderings  back  to  God.  It  represents  the  meeting  of 
misery  with  compassion  ;  the  communing  of  penitent 
wretchedness  with  all-sufficient  grace  ;  of  our  lost 
humanity  with  that  inflnite  love,  which  received  and 
embraced  our  guilty  nature,  and  even  adopted  it  into 
the  person  of  Christ.  The  parable  is  an  epitome  of 
the  spiritual  history  of  the  whole  church  ;  so  that 
every  individual  member  beholds  in  it  an  image  of 
the  most  affecting  parts  of  his  own  life. 

And  what  an  insight  does  it  give  us  into  the  depths 
of  our  Lord’s  benevolent  character!  We  feel  that 
we  are  listening  to  a  party  concerned  ;  he  presents 
us  with  his  heart  in  almost  every  sentence ;  nor  is  it 
easy  to  conceive  that  he  uttered  it  without  tears. 
And  the  view  which  it  gives  us  of  his  benevolence  is 
further  enhanced,  when  we  think  of  the  object  for 
which  he  uttered  it, :  he  sought  to  promote  repen¬ 
tance,  to  encourage  that  change  by  which  the  sinner 
comes  to  himself;  not  merely  by  depicting  the  pa¬ 
ternal  compassion  of  God,  but  by  representing  it  as 
an  occasion  of  joy  to  angels,  and  to  every  order  of 
holy  intelligence  in  the  universe.  From  a  perusal 
of  this,  and  the  two  parables  connected  with  it,  he 
would  have  the  penitent  to  believe,  that  in  going  to 
God  for  mercy  he  is  occasioning  a  joy  which,  begin¬ 
ning  at  the  center  of  all  benevolence — the  heart  of 
the  eternal  Father — circulates  through  all  ranks  of 
holy  existences,  to  the  utmost  circumference  of  the 
spiritual  creation. 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


357 


5.  There  are  numerous  passages  in  our  Lord’s  dis¬ 
courses  iu  which,  as  the  representative  of  his  people, 
he  describes  himself  as  personally  affected  by  all  that 
befalls  them — a  sentiment  which  can  only  be  resolv¬ 
ed  into  that  enlarged  benevolence  which  identifies 
him  with  all  piety  ^  He  reproved  the  errors  and  sins 
of  the  Jews,  with  the  indignant  sensibility  of  one 
who  felt  himself  personally  wronged  and  dishonored 
by  them.  He  spoke  of  the  weakest  believer  as  his 
other  self;  resenting  his  wrongs,  and  adopting  the 
favors  shown  him  as  his  own.  After  often  lepeatiug 
this  sentiment,  and  presenting  it  in  various  lights,  he 
raised  it  to  a  climaxin  the  declaration  that,  in  the  last 
great  day,  he  will  pronounce  concerning  every  action 
relating  to  them;  44 ye  did  it  unto  me  oi,  ye  did  it 
not  unto  me.”  If  sympathy  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  substitution,  by  which  we  are  put  into  the 
place  of  another,  and  affected  in  many  respects  as 
he  is  affected,  then  what  shall  we  think  ol  the  sym¬ 
pathy  of  Christ,  which  never  allows  him  to  remain 
an  indifferent  spectator  of  any  thing  his  people  may 
suffer.  Virtue  cannot  receive  the  slightest  wound, 
of  which  he  does  not  instantly  feel  the  smart.  He  is 
the  great  sympathetic  nerve  of  the  church,  over 
which  all  the  oppressions  and  sufferings  of  his  peo¬ 
ple  distinctly  pass  ;  nor  does  that  mysterious  instru¬ 
ment  of  sensation  in  the  human  body  convey  more 
correctly  to  the  sensorium  a  sense  of  the  condition 
of  the  extremest  part  of  the  frame,  than  the  benevo¬ 
lence  of  Jesus,  who  is  the  sensorium  of  the  spiritual 
universe,  apprehends,  and  sympathizes  with  the  least 
emotion  of  suffering  in  his  body  the  church. 

G.  44  And  when  he  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the 
city,  and  wept  over  it,  saying,  If  thou  liadst  known, 
even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day’,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace !  but  now  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes.”  Often  had  he  approached  Jerusalem 
before  by  the  same  road,  and  gazed  on  it  from  the 
same  spot ;  and  we  may  suppose,  had  he  looked  on 
it,  but  with  emotions  of  unutterable  concern  :  for  oh! 


358  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

Jerusalem  was  endeared  to  him  by  ties  unimagined 
by  man.  But  now  he  was  approaching  it  for  the 
last  time  ;  and  he  paused  to  take  a  final  look.  He 
knew  that  his  entrance  within  its  gates  would  be  the 
signal  for  filling  up  the  measure  of  its  guilt ;  and 
therefore  he  lingered  a  moment,  as  if  to  respite  its 
doom  ;  the  sun  of  righteousness  lingered  a  moment 
on  Mount  Olivet,  as  if  to  prolong  for  it  that  day  of 
grace  made  by  his  own  immediate  beams.  He  had 
before  asked  for  it  “  another  year,”  that  he  might 
make  on  it  fresh  experiments  of  mercy :  and  now  he 
graciously  vouchsafed  it  another  moment.  And  as 
lie  stood  and  gazed  on  it,  his  mind  filled  with  affect¬ 
ing  recollections  of  the  past ;  the  future  rose  to  his 
prophetic  eye  crowded  with  scenes  of  guilt  and  woe  ; 
while  both  became  aggravated  by  the  afflicting 
thought,  that  all  his  generous  efforts  to  save  it  were 
defeated,  and  would  only  serve  to  enhance  its  doom. 

His  comprehensive  mind  reverted  to  the  past ;  he 
remembered  the  days  of  old,  “  when  Israel  was  holi¬ 
ness  to  the  Lord.”  He  could  not  forget  that  Judea 
had  for  ages  been  the  ark  of  religion,  where  the 
knowledge  of  Jehovah  had  been  preserved  and  cher¬ 
ished  when  lost  by  all  the  world  besides;  that  it  was 
filled  with  the  mementos  of  prophets  and  miracles  ; 
that  it  had  been  the  birth-place  of  men  of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy  ;  that  its  paths  had  been  trod 
by  angel-feet ;  that  its  dust  was  hallowed,  its  very 
soil  sacred  to  God.  He  thought  of  the  temple,  where 
devotion  had  for  so  many  ages  felt  itself  nearer  hea¬ 
ven  ;  where  the  bleeding  sacrifice  had  daily  testified 
of  human  guilt  and  divine  placability;  where  suc¬ 
cessive  generations  had  communed  with  God  from 
off  the  mercy-seat ;  and  multitudes  bad  found  the 
gate  of  heaven.  But  these  recollections,  pleasing  in 
themselves,  were  embittered  by  the  x'emembrance  of 
the  guilt  they  necersarily  recalled — ages  of  accumu¬ 
lated  guilt.  The  Lord  had  sent  unto  them  his  proph¬ 
ets,  “rising  early  and  sendingthem;”  but“theybeat 
one  and  killed  another  and  stoned  another.”  It  could 
not  be  that  a  prophet  should  perish  out  of  Jerusa- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


359 


lem.  Itwas  saturated  with  “  the  blood  ot  all  the  proph¬ 
ets,  down  to  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  son  ot  Barachias, 
whom  they  slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar. 

J  was  thirsting  after  hi 


And,  now,  he  knew  that  it 


his 


own  blood.  For  more  than  a  thousand  years  it  had 
enjoyed  the  peculiar  regards  of  heaven  ;  yet,  with  alt 
his  compassion  for  it  in  lively  exercise,  the  benevo¬ 
lent  Jesus  could  not  but  see  that  it  was  the  grave  ot 
hope,  the  vortex  of  all  piety.  For  three  years  now, 
he  himself  had  come  seeking  fruit,  and  finding  none. 
During  that  period,  his  preaching  and  miracles  had 
but  this  one  object— the  instruction  and  salvation  of 
its  thankless  and  disobedient  people  How  solemn¬ 
ly  had  he  warned  them,  how  graciously  invited  them, 
how  anxiously  labored  to  convince  them  that  he  was 
the  Hope  of  Israel,  their  promised  Messiah.  For 
them  he  had  toiled,  and  traveled,  and  interceded,  and 
spent  himself  in  self-consuming  privations.  lor 

their  sakes  he  had  made  himself  of  no  reputation, 
and  had  taken  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant. 

When  driven  from  Jerusalem  by  persecution,  exiled 
by  bitter  hate,  he  carried  their  welfare  with  lnm  in 
his  heart,  and  soon  he  returned  to  them  again  with  a 
kindness  which  seemed  increased  by  ingratitude. 
They  formed  the  sole  object  of  his  tenderest  solici¬ 
tude,  the  essence  of  his  daily  thought.  For  hem 
every  pulse  of  his  heart  had  beaten,  and  for  them 
that  heart  was  ready  to  pour  forth  its  vital  blood. 
He  had  done  everything  that  could  be  done,  con¬ 
sistently  with  his  own  perfections  and  with i  the  lib¬ 
erty  of  accountable  creatures,  but  in  vain.  On  them 
the  object  of  his  mission  was  entirely  lost.  He  knew 
that  at  that  moment  they  were  passing  his  destruc¬ 
tion  into  a  law.  He  looked  down  on  the  gm  y 
city;  and,  behold,  it  resembled  a  vast  cauldron  filled 
and  fermenting  with  all  infernal  passions,  of  which 
be  was  to  be  the  devoteil  victim. 

But,  with  the  self-denying  love  of  a  patriot,  and 
the  grace  of  a  Saviour,  he  looked  beyond  the  specta¬ 
cle  of  his  own  sufferings,  and  fixed  his  eye  upon 
30 


360 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


theirs ;  lie  could  view  them  only  through  au  atmos¬ 
phere  of  compassion.  And,  oh  !  what  an  appeal  to 
his  pity  was  there.  Clouds  of  wrath  were  gathering 
over  Jerusalem  from  every  quarter  of  heaven,  fraught 
with  materials  of  destruction  such  as  none  but  a  di¬ 
vine  hand  could  collect:  his  own  blood,  by  which  he 
had  graciously  meant  to  wash  away  their  guilt,  call¬ 
ing  with  a  voice  not  to  be  denied,  for  the  ministers 
of  justice  to  arm;  all  things  on  earth  and  in  heaven 
mustering  and  disposing  for  their  doom.  He  looked 
again  ;  and,  lo,  the  city,  his  city,  was  beleaguered  and 
lost ;  Jerusalem  lay  bleeding  at  his  feet ;  the  harpy 
nations  had  taken  their  prey;  her  dwellings  of  holi¬ 
ness  were  laid  waste  ;  and  the  sound  of  her  expiring 
lament,  drowning  even  the  voice  of  justice  itself' 
pierced  his  heart,  and  drew  from  him  words  in  which 
all  his  soul  came  forth  ;  “If  thou  hadst  known,  even 
thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  be¬ 
long  unto  thy  peace !  but  now  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes.” 

The  exclamation  regarded  as  a  sentence,  is  inter¬ 
rupted  and  incomplete ;  but  who  does  not  see  that  it 
is  both  interrupted,  and  completed,  by  tears — which 
are  the  natural  language  of  compassion,  and  which 
express  its  intenseness  beyond  all  words.  But  he 
not  only  thought  of  the  past,  and  surveyed  the  fu¬ 
ture,  he  evidently  glanced  also  at  a  pleasing  picture 
of  what  the  present  might  have  been ;  and  then  the 
hiatus  is  to  be  regarded  as  filled  up  with  a  silent  re¬ 
flection  on  what  would  have  been  the  happy  results 
had  Jerusalem  accepted  his  mission.  The  lingering 
contemplation  of  the  same  blessed  possibility  is  ap¬ 
parent  also  in  his  subsequent  exclamation  ;  “  O  Jer¬ 
usalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and 
stonest  them  who  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as 
a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and 
ye  would  not !”  Had  the  nation  appreciated  his 
character,  and  sympathized  with  his  mission,  how 
different  we  may  suppose,  his  conduct  would  have 


3G1 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 

been,  and  bow  changed  the  history  of  Ins  earthly 
life  The  Jewish  economy  might  have  died  a  glori¬ 
ous  death,  full  of  days  and  full  of  honors.  Instead 
of  entering  the  temple  to  denounce  and  to  scorn  ge, 
he  might  have  gone  to  explain,  and  to  apply  to  him¬ 
self,  its  ancient  rites  ;  to  make  known  the  termina¬ 
tion  of  its  service ;  and  to  pronounce,  in  the  hearing 
of  the  great  congregation  its  funeral  eulogium.  in¬ 
stead  of  being  hated,  persecuted,  and  ignomimousiy 
put  to  death  as  the  victim  of  malice,  he  might  have 
assembled  the  tribes  by  proclamation  ;  have  lilted  up 
his  voice  and  explained  to  their  breathless  attention 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement ;  have  opened  then 
understanding,  and  disclosed  the  amazing  fact,  that 
the  principle  of  vicarious  suffering,  which  ran 
through  the  whole  of  their  economy,  was  now  to 
terminate  and  triumph  in  his  own  piacular  death  loi 
man  :  and  then,  amidst  the  tears  and  sympathies  ot 
the  world,  he  might  have  ascended  Calvary— or  even 
the  altar  of  sacrifice  itself-and  there  he  might  have 
been  visibly  smitten  by  the  immediate  sword  ol  jus¬ 
tice  ;  while  angels  bending  over  the  mysterious 
scene,  would  have  pointed  each  other  to  bis  blood, 
and  said,  “  Behold,  how  he  loved  them.  Instead  ol 
retiring  into  Galilee  when  he  arose  from  the  dead,  he 
might  have  shown  himself  openly  to  all  the  people; 
he  might  once  more  have  entered  the  temple,  where 
“ Moses  and  Elias,”  as  the  representatives  of  the 
Jewish  church,  might  have  resigned  into  his  hands 
the  trust  which  it  had  held  for  the  human  race  :  and 
investing  him  with  the  insignia  of  prophet,  priest, 
and  king,  have  hailed  him  as  the  Hope  of  Israel,  and 
the  Surety  of  the  world.  “  Oh  that  Ins  people  had 
hearkened  unto  him,  and  Israel  had  walked  in  Ins 

It  is  true,  the  contrary  was  forseen  ;  every  step  he 
took  was  calculated  and  arranged  on  the  distinctfore- 
knowledge  of  his  rejection  ;  the  wickedness  of  his 
enemies  was  interwoven  into  the  texture  ot  the  r  i- 
vine  plans  concerning  him.  But  Ins  rejection  was 


362 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


necessitated  only  by  their  own  depravity.  Had  their 
blinding  unbelief  permitted  them  to  “  know  him, 
they  could  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory.” 
The  morn  of  mercy  would  have  arisen  cloudless  on 
the  world.  He  would  have  made  the  temple  the 
cradle  of  Christianity,  the  rendezvous  of  piety  to  all 
nations,  the  sanctuary  of  the  world.  Jerusalem 
should  have  arisen  as  a  stately  palm,  toweling  to 
heaven  and  seen  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  distilling 
balm  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  and  wafting  its 
fragrance  as  incense  through  the  skies ;  religion 
should  have  built  her  palaces  in  its  shadow ;  it 
should  have  been  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth. 

How  often  would  he  have  done  this,  and  more  than 
this,  for  his  beloved  Jerusalem;  gathering  her  child¬ 
ren  under  his  fostering  care,  and  making  her  the 
abode  of  heavenly  glory.  But,  alas,  this  was  only  a 
vison — as  the  name  Jerusalem  imports  a  vision  of 
peace  :  and  now  it  was  both  hid  from  her  eyes,  and 
vanished  from  his.  He  would  have  turned  the  vision 
into  reality ;  but  she  would  not,  she  thrust  him  from 
her.  Painful  indeed  is  the  situation  of  the  patriot 
who  is  condemned  to  watch  the  exhausted  struggles 
of  his  country;  to  tend  it  during  its  alternate  parox¬ 
ysms  of  raving,  and  intervals  of  lethargic  stupefac¬ 
tion,  till  one  by  one  the  lingering  symptoms  of  lile 
have  disappeared,  and  it  lies  prostrate  in  corruption, 
and  trodden  under  foot  of  the  nations-  But  here 
was  more  than  a  patriot  called  to  mourn  over  the  des¬ 
olation  of  his  land,  and  to  witness  the  frustration  of 
all  his  plans  for  saving  it ;  here  was  the  friend  of 
sinners,  the  lover  of  human  souls,  called  to  contem¬ 
plate  the  spiritual  perdition  of  a  whole  land,  and 
that  land  the  immediate  scene  of  his  godlike  labors. 
He  could  not  fail  to  be  deeply  affected  by  the  pros¬ 
pect  of  its  temporal  sufferings :  but  what  were  they 
compared  with  its  impending  spiritual  fate.  He 
knew  the  history  of  sin  ;  he  had  seen  it  in  its  awful 
origin,  expelling  the  angels  from  heaven  and  prepar¬ 
ing  for  them  a  hell  ;  his  omnipresent  mind  had  all 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


3G3 


the  endless  consequences  of  sin  present  to  lus  view. 
And  knowing  and  deploring  as  he  did  the  eternal 
results  of  the  least  sin,  how  inconceivably  great  must 
his  emotions  of  grief  and  compassion  have  been  at 
the  sight  of  a  whole  nation  of  human  beings,  101 
whose  welfare,  at  any  moment,  he  was  ready  to  be¬ 
come  a  curse,  destroyed  by  the  vials  ot  Almigh  y 
displeasure,  and  perishing  under  a  charge  ot  guilt, 
onlv  inferior  in  aggravation  to  the  guilt  ot  the  ange 
that  kept  not  their  first  estate.  His  benevolent  na¬ 
ture  recoiled  at  the  idea  ;  he  felt  as  it  he  could  n 
o-ive  them  up,  could  not  see  them  consigned  to  such 
irretrievable  ruin  ;  as  if  even  now  it  was  not  too  late 
to  save  them;  as  if  he  could  almost  have  saved  them 
sven  against  their  wills.  The  consideration  ot  then 
continued  aggravated  guilt,  had,  we  might  have  sup¬ 
posed,  drained  the  whole  passion  ot  pity  from  his  na¬ 
ture  ;  but  at  the  sight  of  that  coming  woe,  a  new 
fountain  of  compassion  opens  in  Ins  heart,  and  pours 
itself  forth  in  an  unexampled  gush  of  sympathy  ,  at 
the  prospect  of  that  dreadful  scene,  that  type  ot  the 
terrors  of  the  judgment  day,  he  hears  not  the  acc  a- 

mations  of  the  surrounding  multitude,  hailing  - 

trance  into  the  devoted  city,  thinks  not  of  his  own 
impending  death,  but  abandons  himself  to  sympathy  , 
his  whole  nature  dissolves  into  compassion,  which 
can  only  find  vent,  in  an  exclamation  m  which  he 
poured  forth  the  tears  of  his  heart,  “  O  that  thou 
hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the 
things  which  belong  unto  thy  peace  !  but  now  they 

are  fiid  from  thine  eyes.”  .  , 

Pitiable,  indeed,  must  be  the  state  of  that  mmd 
which  can  find  itself  at  case  to  debate  a  question  of 
metaphysical  divinity  in  the  presence  of  the  Ke- 
deemer’s  tears.  Yet  there  are  men  whose  creed  has 
no  place  even  for  his  sacred  grief;  who  are  actually 
annoyed  at  these  tears  wept  over  perishing  smneis, 
as  at  heterodox  variance  with  the  divine  decrees  ; 
who  frown  at  this  precious  distillment  of  infinite  love, 
as  inconsistent  with  their  views  of  divine  inflexibih- 
30* 


364 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

ty.  There  are  those  who  would  rather  these  tears 
had  never  been  shed,  or  that  the  record  of  this  burst 
of  divine  compassion  should  be  expunged  from  the 
sacred  page,  than  that  it  should  remain  as  an  obstacle 
to  their  logical  views  of  the  divine  purposes.  But 
we  linger  over  it  with  delight ;  we  love  to  remain 
within  the  softening  influence,  the  hallowed  conta¬ 
gion  of  the  Redeemer’s  tears;  we  bless  him  for 
them  ;  we  regard  the  melting  scene  as  only  inferior 
in  pathos,  in  tender  and  solemn  grandeur,  to  Calvary 
itself. 

The  compassionate  exclamation  of  Jesus,  on  this 
occasion,  intimates  that  the  salvation  of  the  Jews 
tvould  have  been  more  agreeable  to  his  benevolent 
nature  than  their  destruction  ;  that,  notwithstanding 
this,  there  were  sufficient  reasons  why  his  omnipo¬ 
tence  should  not  interpose  to  prevent  that  destruc¬ 
tion  ;  that,  in  the  same  act,  justice,  awful  and  un¬ 
bending  justice,  may  denounce  destruction  against 
the  sinner,  while  benevolence  sympathizes  in  his 
misery  even  to  tears.  When  Jesus  afterwards  turn- 
ned  to  the  mourning  daughters  of  Jeresalem  as 
they  followed  him  to  Calvary,  and  said,  “Weep  not 
for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves,”  he  sought,  by  that 
admonition,  to  impress  them  with  the  magnitude  of 
the  calamity  which  awaited  them  ;  a  calamity  so 
pregnant  with  woe,  that  had  all  the  tears  shed  from 
the  creation,  been  reserved  for  that  event,  had  all 
the  universe  joined  and  aided  them  in  the  mighty 
grief,  it  would  not  have  equalled  the  greatness  of 
the  occasion.  But  his  own  tears  should  affect  us 
more  deeply  with  the  greatness  of  the  calamity,  than 
the  sight  of  all  creation  in  tears.  To  think  that.  Je¬ 
sus  wept,  that  tears  fell  from  his  eyes,  the  eyes  of  in¬ 
carnate  perfection,  how  great  must  have  been  the  ca¬ 
lamity  which  occasioned  them,  the  calamity  of  souls 
lost,  immortal  natures  perishing  under  the  frown  of 
God.  And  he  would  encourage  us  to  infer,  that, 
making  the  necessary  allowance  for  the  difference* 
between  his  earthly  and  his  heavenly  state,  his  na- 


HIS  tenderness  and  benevolence. 


365 


mre  is  still  the  same ;  that  no  sinner  perishes  unpit¬ 
ied  unlamented.  He  would  have  the  ministers  of 
his  gospel  to  mingle  their  appeals  and  warnings  with 
tears,  and  to  assure  the  impenitent  that  if  they  final¬ 
ly  perish,  they  descend  into  perdition  bathed  in  t) 

tears  of  his  divine  compassion. 

7  What  an  affecting  illustration  of  the  tenderness 
and  benevolence  of  our  Lord’s  teaching  do  we  find 
in  his  Valedictory  discourse  to  his  dumpies  on  the 
evening  prior  to  his  crucifixion  *  He  was  about  to 
llave  them.  He  had  so  far  advanced  m  Ins  earthly 
course  that  he  was  now  only  a  step  from  the  cioss  , 
a  few  hours  more,  and  the  pang  of  parting  from  their 
Lord  must  be  endured.  Tender  as  Ins  conduct,  and 
gracious  as  his  intercourse  had  always  been,  he  ha 
evidently  reserved  the  outpouring  of  his  heart  till 
now.  He  sought  to  prepare  them  for  the  appioach 
in g  trial,  by  showing  them  that,  though  lie  died,  lie 
died  with  them  in  his  heart.  Addressing  them  in 
terms  of  gracious  endearment  such  as  they  had  nev¬ 
er  tod  to  before;  and  such  as,  considering  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  were  utteied,  they 
could  never  forget,  he  took  them  into  a  new  region 
of  truth ;  expatiated  over  fields  filled  with  the  pio 
ducts  of  infinite  love;  ranged  over  ground  which 
Jhev  bad  only  beheld  dimly  at  a  distance,  ground 
which  brought  them  within  sight  ofthe  gate  of  heaven. 
Often  bad  he  spoke  to  them  as  never  man  spake, 
descanting  on  topics  which  it  had  not  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  ;  but  lie  now  led  them 
into  a  higher  department,  an  inner  chamber  of  ti  uth  , 
he  now  conducted  them  into  the  treasury  of  his  love, 
displayed  before  them  his  resources  and  affluence, 
no  hi  ted  out  the  costly  gifts  which  he  meant  for  them, 
and  even  invited  them  to  select  and  appropriate  his 
choicest  treasures.  He  drew  them  close  to  himself, 
afforded  them  the  nearest  inspection  of  his  charac- 
acter  ;  unbosomed  to  them  his  inmost  designs ;  show- 

“John  xiv.  xv.  xvi. 


36C>  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

eel  them  his  very  heart  with  all  their  names  engraven 
there,  and  all  their  interests  bound  up  and  made  one 
with  his  dearest  purposes,  and  with  the  glory  of  the 
Father. 

His  avowed  object  in  thus  addressing  them  was, 
that  “  his  joy  might  remain  in  them,  and  that  their 
joy  might  he  full that  the  same  exalted  views  and 
principles,  which  had  sustained  and  actuated  him, 
might  descend  to  them  ;  that  they  might  inherit  the 
very  same  spiritual  property  ;  that  it  might  be  entail¬ 
ed  on  his  church  forever,  and  yield  to  his  people  in 
all  generations  as  large  a  revenue  of  joy  and  peace, 
as,  in  proportion  it  had  brought  to  him.  And,  as  if 
to  increase  the  pathos  of  this  touching  discourse,  he 
invested  it  with  circumstances  of  irresistable  tender¬ 
ness  and  love.  He  uttered  it  in  the  presence  of  the 
symbols  of  death  :  and  while  the  melting  sentence, 
“Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,”  was  yet  sounding 
in  their  ears.  And  he  immediately  followed  it  with 
a  prayer  such  as,  till  then,  heaven  had  never  received 
from  earth — a  prayer  in  which  he  seemed  uncon¬ 
scious  of  mortal  presence,  and  spoke  as  if  he  had 
never  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father — a  prayer  in  which 
he  asked  with  the  largeness  and  confidence  of  one 
who  felt  that  he  had  established  a  claim  on  the  divine 
resources,  that  having  so  nearly  reached  the  cross,  he 
was  entitled  to  ask  what  he  would  ;  and  all  he  asked 
was  for  his  disciples  ;  all  his  new  and  unmeasured  in¬ 
fluence  at  the  throne  of  grace  was  employed  for  them, 
that  they  might  enjoy  an  interest  in  all  his  perfections, 
a  share  in  all  his  glory — a  prayer  in  which  he  pleaded 
as  if  he  had  already  reached  the  altar  of  incense 
above,  and  had  actually  entered  on  his  office  of  in¬ 
tercessor  there ;  and  in  which  he  clasped  the  eternal 
throne  as  if  he  would  save  his  people  by  prayer 
alone.  By  means  such  as  these  did  he  aim,  not 
merely  to  prepare  them  for  the  trial  of  his  approach¬ 
ing  departure,  but  to  leave  his  image  impressed  on 
all  their  hearts,  to  bind  them  fast  to  himself  with  the 
cords  of  love,  to  assure  them  that,  henceforth  and 
for  ever,  he  and  they  were  one. 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


367 


8.  There  are  numerous  declarations,  interspersed 
through  every  part  of  our  Lord’s  discourses,  con¬ 
cerning  the  object  of  his  advent,  in  which  he  inv.  es 
us  to  listen  to  the  highest  strains  of  benevolence. 
“I  am  come,”  saith  he,  “that  they  might  have  life, 
and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly.  1  am 
the  bread  of  life.  I  am  the  good  shepherd,  and  lay 
down  my  life  for  the  sheep.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh 
and  driuketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life  ,  and  I  wil 
raise  him  up  atlhe  last  day.  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  bon  ot 
man  be  lifted  up :  that  whosoever  beheveth  in  lnm 
should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  hie.  I  he  bon 
of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is 
lost :  to  give  himself  a  ransom  for  many  ;  to  shed  his 
Sod  fo?  the  remission  of  sins.”  These  passages 
form  part  of  a  numerous  class  :  and  vve  have  reserv¬ 
ed  them  till  now,  as  exhibiting  the  benevolence  of 
Christ,  in  its  highest  and  most  comprehensive  form ; 
for  they  disclose  both  his  purposes  of  grace,  and  the 
costlv  means  bv  which  he  efiects  them.  _  . 

They  teach  us,  that,  in  saving  man  he  is  obeying 
the  spontaneous  dictates,  and  gratifying  the  compas- 
11  yearnings  of  his  own  heart.  He pruned 
life  for  the  express  purpose  ot  laying  it  down.  H  3 
showed  that  his  heart  was  full  ot  a  purpose  formed 
from  eternity.  No  scene  of  trial  could  take  him  by 
surprise  ;  no  hour  of  suffering  found  him  unprepai- 
ed  He  saw  as  from  a  height  the  whole  array  of  du- 
tv'and  trial  which  awaited  him;  and  the  only  emo¬ 
tion  he  evinced  at  the  sight,  was  a  self-consuming 
ardor  to  reach  the  cross  which  stood  at  the  end  of  his 
path,  a  holy  impatience  to  be  baptized  with  that  bap¬ 
tism  of  blood.  And  when  his  hour  was  come,  the 
mysterious  manner  in  which  he  surrendered  up  his 
life  on  the  cross— breathing  it  forth— giving  it  up— 
parting  with  it  as  a  freewill  offering  to  God— evinced 
the  truth  of  his  own  declaration,  “No  man  taketli  it 
from  me,  I  lay  it  down  of  myself. 

“For  their  sakes,”  said  he,  “I  sanctify  myself; 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


368 

and  he  did  so,  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the 
cause  of  human  salvation  ;  it  occupied'  his  thoughts 
from  the  first  moment  to  the  last  of  his  continuance 
upon  earth.  All  the  paths  of  human  ambition  were 
open  and  accessible  to  him,  but  he  passed  them  all 
by.  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of 
them  were  laid  at  his  feet,  but  he  saw  them  as  if  he 
saw  them  not.  With  a  single  sentence  he  could 
have  flashed  light  on  the  darkest  mysteries  of  philos¬ 
ophy  ;  but  he  would  not  thus  debase  his  mission,  he 
would  not  spare  a  single  moment  from  teaching  that 
higher  science,  the  knowledge  of  salvation.  lie  had 
ears  only  for  one  sound — and  that  was  the  voice  of 
penitence  imploring  forgiveness  :  the  voice  of  fear 
and  conscious  guilt  deprecating  the  vengeanceof  eter¬ 
nal  fire,  and  crying  for  relief.  He  had  eyes  only  for 
one  sight — and  that  was  the  misery  of  man :  the 
spectacle  of  a  world  invaded,  ruined,  lost,  and  mov¬ 
ing  along  in  chains  to  the  pit  of  perdition.  This  ob¬ 
ject  filled  the  whole  sphere  of  his  vision  ;  he  could 
see  nothing  else  ;  and  had  all  the  thrones  of  earth 
been  vacant,  and  invited  his  acceptance,  it  would 
not  have  induced  him  to  diverge  a  single  step  from 
the  path  which  led  direct  to  the  cross.  He  had 
tears  but  for  one  sorrow  ;  and  he  Avept  them  over  lost 
souls.  He  valued  life  itself  but  for  one  object;  as  it 
enabled  him  to  present  it  in  sacrifice  for  human  re¬ 
demption. 

The  key  to  all  his  conduct  is  love  ;  this  is  the  prin¬ 
ciple  by  which  he  invites  us  to  interpret  all  his  earth¬ 
ly  history  ;  and  which  is  found  to  explain  it  all,  while 
itself  remains  inexplicable.  Such  is  the  property  of 
sympathy,  that  even  in  ordinary  cases,  it  impels  us  to 
enact  a  kind  of  mental  substitution,  imparting  to  us 
the  feelings,  and  placing  us  in  the  situation  of  the 
party  with  whom  we  sympathize.  But  such  was  the 
power  of  the  Saviour’s  compassion,  that  it  impelled 
him  to  enact  a  real  substitution  !  it  gave  him  our  na¬ 
ture.  Under  its  mighty  impulse,  he  took  our  place  in 
the  universe  ;  invited  the  government  of  God  to  treat 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


3G9 


him  as  the  representative  of  the  human  race ;  ab¬ 
sorbed  our  interest ;  opened  his  bosom,  and  welcom¬ 
ed  to  his  heart  the  stroke  which  we  had  deserved. 
And  having  thus  answered  our  liabilities,  and  honor¬ 
ed  the  claims  of  injured  justice,  he  is  rewarded  with 
all  the  means  and  the  power  of  salvation.  Having 
offered  to  God  a  perfect  sacrifice  as  the  substitute  for 
man,  he  is  now  to  be  regarded  as  offering  a  perfect 
salvation  to  us  as  the  substitute  for  God.  And  in 
making  these  overtures  of  infinite  grace,  every  word 
he  utters  breathes  of  compassion  that  will  not  be  de- 

n* lb  In  further  illustration  of  the  tenderness  and 
benevolence  which  distinguished  our  Lord’s  instruc¬ 
tions,  we  might  adduce  the  universality  of  Ins  offers 
of  mercy.  He  could  not  contemplate,  without  deep 
solicitude,  the  exclusion  of  any  from  the  blessings  of 
his  grace  ;  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  benevolence, 
all  must  love  him,  and  be  beloved  by  him.  We 
might  refer  to  the  relations  which  he  represented 
himself  as  assuming  and  sustaining ;  for  in  hun  the 
tenderness  of  the  shepherd,  the  affection  of  the  pa¬ 
rent,  and  the  grace  of  the  Saviour,  are  combined. 
AVe  might  point  to  the  attractive  epithets  which  he 
applied  to  the  blessings  of  his  grace  ;  not  contenting 
himself  with  merely  announcing  those  blessings, 
but  aiming  to  excite  our  desire  to  possess  them  by 
describing  them  in  the  most  alluring  terms.  JNoi 
should  we  omit  to  mention,  for  the  same  end,  the 
characteristic  tenderness  of  the  topics  on  yihich  he 
delighted  to  dilate.  He  loved  to  dwell  on  the  pater¬ 
nal  character  of  God  ;  it  was  a  view  which  formed 
his  own  consolation  and  joy  through  every  stage  of 
his  earthly  course,  and  he  essayed  to  conduct  his 
people  to  the  same  fountain  of  delight.  I  rayer  was 
a  subject  frequently  on  his  lips.  His  heart  was  set 
on  bringing  about  an  interview  between  God  and 
man  :  for  he  knew  it  must  lead  to  the  reconciliation 
of  the  parties ;  lie  knew  that  if  lie  could  but  bring 
us  to  the  footstool  of  mercy,  all  would  be  well. 


370 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


Hence  the  attractions  with  which  he  has  invested  the 
throne  of  grace  ;  assuring  us  that  we  go  there  invited 
and  expected  as  his  friends  ;  hence  the  unalienable 
charter  of  prayer,  which,  sprinkled  with  his  own 
blood,  he  has  placed  in  our  hands:  promising  to  ex¬ 
ercise  all  the  good  within  the  compass  of  omnipo¬ 
tence  to  bestow,  and  urging  it  in  terms  of  gracious 
encouragement,  to  which  nothing  consistently  with 
the  divine  dignity,  could  be  added.  How  evidently 
was  he  gratifying  his  own  mind,  while  expatiating 
on  the  doctrine  ofdivine  influence ;  offering  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  the  free  gift  of  God ;  promising  his  pres¬ 
ence  as  the  abiding  Comforter;  and  enlarging  on  the 
great  and  certain  advantages  of  dwelling  in  the  ele¬ 
ment  of  his  light  and  love.  How  visibly  congenial 
to  his  taste  was  the  topic  of  brotherly  love  ;  it  form¬ 
ed  the  subject  of  his  new  command,  of  his  frequent 
admonition,  and  occupied  a  principal  part  of  his  in¬ 
tercessory  prayer.  He  might  justly  have  engrossed 
the  love  of  his  people  to  himself;  but,  no,  he  waived 
his  own  right,  and  said,  “  Love  one  another.”  Such 
is  the  superiority  of  his  claims  on  their  hearts,  that 
no  other  being  could  justly  demand  a  share,  until 
they  had  rendered  to  him  his  due  ;  and  this  would 
never  have  been.  But  he  graciously  dispensed  with 
his  own  interest,  consenting  to  take  the  love  they 
owe  to  him,  in  the  form  of  love  to  each  other.  Like 
a  father  looking  on  his  assembled  children,  while 
kissing  and  embracing  each  other  in  the  first  fond 
essays  of  love,  he  is  content,  for  the  time,  to  witness 
their  mutual  regard,  without  being  the  immediate 
object  of  it.  He  loved  to  contemplate  his  church  as 
a  community  of  hearts,  cemented  by  attachment  to  a 
common  object,  and  thus  rendered  one.  For  this  he 
prayed  with  an  earnestness  that  would  not  be  deni¬ 
ed,  “that  they  all  might  be  one  ;”  that  they  might 
form  a  church  in  whose  capacious  bosom  there 
should  be  but  one  heart  to  sway  all  its  motions,  and 
direct  all  its  actions,  emulating  the  harmonious 
movements  of  the  blessed  ;  a  heart  which  should 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


371 


beat  in  concert  with  heaven,  and  whose  every  pulse 
should  diffuse  life,  and  health,  and  joy  to  the  remo¬ 
test  members  of  the  body.  .  ~ 

10.  Nor  were  the  tenderness  and  benevolence  ot 

Christ  abated,  either  by  the  lapse  of  time,  or  the 
perseverance  of  human  ingratitude.  His  kindness 
exhibited  no  tendency  to  degenerate  into  mere  pro¬ 
fessional  sympathy;  nor  had  the  malice  of  those 
who  seized  his  outstretched  hand  and  nailed  it  to  the 
cross,  any  other  visible  affect  than  that  of  inducing 
him  to  hasten  the  work  of  saving  them  from  them¬ 
selves  and  from  hell.  The  superiority  to  ingratitude 
which  some  exhibit,  arises  from  a  detect  m  the  con¬ 
stitution  of  their  nature,  by  which  they  are  armed 
with  a  degree  of  insensibility  to  wrongs,  sufficient  to 
blunt  the  weapons  of  unkindness.  But  the  sensibili¬ 
ties  of  Christ  were  of  the  most  acute  description , 
for  in  him  were  harmonized  all  that  is  great  m  mind, 
noble  in  sentiment,  and  delicate  in  feeling  ;  Ins  na¬ 
ture  exhibited  the  perfection  of  humanity.  And  din¬ 
ing  the  whole  of  his  continuance  on  earth,  his  sen¬ 
sibilities  were  all  in  excitement  and  activity ,  tor 
wherever  he  looked  he  saw  man  was  perishing  ;  and 
vet  wherever  he  turned  he  saw  man,  the  object  ot 
his  tender  solicitude,  requiting  his  compassion  with 
a  fixed  frown  of  hostility  and  defiance.  The  con¬ 
duct  of  man  made  a  constant  demand  on  Ins  forbear¬ 
ance,  a  perpetual  drain  on  Ins  pity,  sufficient  to  ex¬ 
haust  every  heart  but  one,  which  was  daily  replen¬ 
ished  at  the  fountain  ot  compassion  itseli.  He  en¬ 
dured,  at  times,  paroxysms  ot  anguish  so  great,  that, 
no  compound  of  mortal  elements,  unless  supernatu- 
rally  sustained,  could  by  any  possibility  have  outlived 
them.  There  is  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  his 
course  would  have  been  much  sooner  run,  that  he 
would  have  fallen  exhausted  in  body  and  mind 
before  the  cross  was  reached,  had  he  not  lived 
in  immediate  communication  with  a  hidden  source 
from  whence  he  drew  daily  reinforcements  of 
strength.  Thus  supplied  and  sustained,  he  tailed 

*  31 


372 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


not,  nor  was  discouraged  his  affections  maintained 
their  freshness  and  youth  ;  his  tender  and  feeling  el¬ 
oquence,  and  his  holy  sensibilities  went  on  increas¬ 
ing  even  to  the  last. 

On  arising  from  the  dead,  it  appears  as  if  his  first 
concern  was  to  convince  his  apostles  of  his  undimin- 
ished  regard  for  them ;  to  prove  to  them  that  he  had 
returned  from  the  grave  with  the  same  heart  with 
which  he  had  died.  Often  had  he  spoken  to  them 
before,  as  if  he  would  not  merely  win  their  souls  to 
him,  but  breathe  his  soul  into  them;  and  now  he  ac¬ 
tually  did  so  ;  “  he  breathed  on  them,  and  said,  Re¬ 
ceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost”  he  imparted  to  them  his 
own  Spirit.  He  had  been  accustomed  to  call  them 
his  disciples  and  servants.  On  the  evening  prior  to 
his  crucifixion,  as  if  his  affection  for  them  increased 
the  nearer  the  hour  of  separation  approached,  as  if 
he  desired  to  draw  closer  the  bands  of  affection  be¬ 
fore  he  left  them,  he  called  them  his  friends; 
“  henceforth,”  said  he,  “I  call  you  not  servants  but 
friends.”  And,  then,  it  was  not  till  after  his  resurrec¬ 
tion  that  he  drew  the  cords  of  love  still  closer,  and 
called  them  his  brethren  ;  “  Go,  tell  my  brethren,” 
said  he,  “  that  they  meet  me  in  Galilee.”  “  Go  to 
my  brethren,  and  say  to  them  ;  I  ascend  to  my  Father 
and  your  Father,  to  my  God  and  your  God.”  Thus  he 
reserved  the  tenderest  appellation  for  the  last ;  as 
though  he  would  provide  against  all  their  suspicions 
and  fears,  that  he  would  forget  them  as  he  rose  in  dig¬ 
nity  and  power,  by  showing  them  that  he  loved  them 
the  more,  the  more  he  did  for  them,  and  the  more  he 
became  capable  of  blessing  them;  and  whatever  the 
dignity  to  which  he  might  be  raised,  he  would  value 
that  dignity  chiefly  as  it  gave  him  the  power  of  bless¬ 
ing  them,  and  of  raising  them  to  a  joint  participation 
of  his  glory.  “  And  he  led  them  out  as  far  as  to 
Bethany,  and  he  lifted  up  his  hands  and  blessed 
them.  And  it  came  to  pass,  while  he  blessed  them,  he 
was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  into  heaven.” 
This  divine  arrangement  was  undoubtedly  meant  to 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


373 


be  as  significant  as  the  gracious  benediction  he  was 
pronouncing.  It  taught  his  disciples  that  lie  car  1  led 
their  interests  with  him  to  heaven  :  and  that  his  oc¬ 
cupation  there  would  be  only  a  continuation  ot  his 
employment  here— the  godlike  work  of  blessing 
them.  He  meant  to  cheer  them  with  the  impression 
that  his  departure  to  heaven,  so  far  from  terminating 
his  ability  to  bless  them,  would  augment  that  power : 
that  the  intercession  which  he  had  begun  on  earth, 
he  went  to  carry  on  and  complete  m  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  eternal  throne. 

1  His  kindness  to  his  disciples  only  corresponded 
with  the  grace  of  his  conduct  towards  the  guilty  city. 
He  commanded  them,  “that  repentance  and  remis¬ 
sion  of  sins  should  be  preached,  in  his  name,  among 
all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem.  Could  terns 
have  washed  away  the  crimson  guilt  oi  its  inhabi¬ 
tants,  they  would  now  have  needed  no  remission, 
for  over  them  the  Man  of  sorrows  had  dissolved  him 
self  into  grief.  Could  kindness  have  melted  or  mov¬ 
ed  them,  they  would  not  now  have  required  an  ex¬ 
hortation  to  repentance  :  for  his  last  anguish  on  the 
cross  included  a  pang  of  compassion  for  them  ,  and 
for  them  lie  had  saved  his  latest  breath  to  pi  ay,  l* 
ther,  forgive  them;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do. 
But  their  impenitence  was  triumphant.  \  etno  soon¬ 
er  does  he  find  himself  in  a  capacity  to  bless,  than 
he  exercises  the  prerogative  m  blessing  them. .  Wo 
might  almost  as  soon  have  expected  that  he  would 
have  sent  his  gospel  to  be  proclaimed  over  the  mouth 
of  perdition  as  to  Jerusalem,  the  hell  of  earth.  At 
least,  we  should  have  expected  to  see  it  making  the 
circuit  of  the  earth  before  it  came  there  ;  to  hear  him 
directing  his  apostles  to  wait  till  his  immediate  ene¬ 
mies  had  descended  to  the  grave;  to  visit  Jerusalem 
last  But  the  course  of  his  grace  admits  not  ot  hu¬ 
man  calculation ;  for  he  sends  them  to  Jerusalem 
first  While  the  eves  of  Ins  enemies  are  yet  gleam- 
in*  with  the  fire  of  triumphant  revenge,  he  commis¬ 
sions  his  apostles  to  hasten  and  open  the  charter  of 


374  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

redemption  within  sight  of  Calvary;  to  let  them 
know  that,  whatever  they  might  have  drawn  from  his 
heart,  his  love  for  them  remains  there  still ;  to  assure 
them  that  there  is  one  mode  of  giving  him  greater 
pain  than  that  even  of  employing  the  cross — by  ob¬ 
stinately  refusing  the  blessings  which  his  cross  has 
procured.  Hut,  O,  there  is  an  exalted  sense,  in  which 
this  act  of  grace  to  Jerusalem  is  to  be  regarded  only 
as  a  type  of  his  benevolence  to  the  world  at  large  ; 
an  affected  rehearsal  on  a  limited  scale,  of  that  great 
dispensation  of  mercy  which  selects  for  its  objects 
the  chief  transgressors  of  every  age,  and  traverses 
the  world  in  quest  of  those  whose  lives  have  been 
spent  in  “  crucifying  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put¬ 
ting  him  to  an  open  shame.” 

Accordingly,  his  last  injunction  to  his  apostles  was 
to  preach  salvation  in  his  name  to  every  creature. 
His  final  act  on  earth  was  to  make  the  world  the 
heirs  of  his  grace ;  to  leave  behind  him  in  trust  the 
conveyance  of  his  salvation  to  all  mankind.  He  had 
now  contemplated  man  from  various  and  affecting 
points;  and,  from  each  point,  the  aspect  presented  to 
view  was  calculated  to  try  his  love  in  a  new  and  pe¬ 
culiar  manner.  From  heaven,  he  had  beheld  us  fall¬ 
ing  by  myriads  into  perdition  ;  but  awful  as  the  sight 
was,  it  was  only  the  natural  result  of  guilt,  so  great 
as  to  make  even  the  earth  itself  to  lothe  us.  He 
clothed  himself  with  love  and  descended  into  the 
midst  of  us  ;  offering  himself  and  his  glory  to  the 
service  of  man  ;  but  he  had  beheld  us  instantly 
league  and  arm  against  him,  making  common  cause 
with  hell  in  the  work  of  his  destruction.  He  had 
earnestly  gazed  on  us  from  the  cross  ;  and  what  was 
the  spectacle  he  beheld  immediately  before  him,  but 
a  group  of  maniac  fiends,  yelling  a  song  of  triumph 
at  having  compassed  his  death  P  And  now,  at  the 
moment  of  his  departure,  as  he  pierced  the  future, 
he  saw  his  humiliation  continued  and  perpetuated 
through  every  succeeding  age,  and  in  every  variety  of 
form ;  he  beheld  the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind,  true 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


375 


to  its  character,  daily  enacting  afresh  the  ignomini¬ 
ous  scenes  of  Calvary  down  to  the  close  ol  time. 
Yet,  with  all  this  infinite  guilt  lying  distinctly  like  a 
map  before  him,  he  commended  and  sent  Ins  love  to 
every  creature.  He  remembered  only  that  we  were 
perishing,  and  felt  only  that  he  could  save.  He  found 
himself  in  possession  of  the  gift  of  eternal  life,  and 
he  sent  it  in  messages  of  grace  over  all  the  earth.  By 
connecting  this  embassy  with  an  act  ol  special  bene¬ 
diction  on  those  whom  he  honored  to  fulfill  it,  he 
significantly  taught  them  that  he  set  them  apart  to  a 
work  of  blessing:  that  they  were  to  go  from  under 
his  uplifted  hands  to  bless  mankind  as  he  had  bless¬ 
ed  them  ;  to  issue  forth  from  under  the  canopy  of 
his  blessing,  propagating  and  diffusing  that  blessing 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And  as  they  were  the  only 
agents  he  employed,  he  thus  intentionally  taught  us 
that  henceforth  he  devoted  himself  to  the  object  of 
saving  us ;  that  lie  engaged  no  agency,  owned  no 
agency  whatever,  but  for  this  purpose;  that  hence¬ 
forth  his  only  communication  with  man  would  be  in 
streams  of  umningled  mercy,  the  ocean  of  its  grace 
pouring  its  fullness  into  our  emptiness ;  that  while  lie 
needed  no  destructive  agency  whatever,  he  should 
require  all  the  benevolent  agency  of  heaven  and 
earth  to  be  put  into  motion,  in  order  to  do  justice  to 
the  purposes  of  his  love.  Having  died  lor  the  re¬ 
demption  of  the  world,  he  felt  that  lie  had  made  the 
world  his  own;  and,  embracing  all  its  dearest  mtei - 
ests,  he  pressed  them  to  his  heart. 

But  fascinating  and  enchaining  as  this  subject  is, 
we  must  now  hasten  to  a  close.  Casting  our  eye 
back  on  the  ground  we  have  passed  over,  what  a 
miracle  of  moral  portraiture  do  we  behold  in  the 
evangelical  history  of  Christ !  What  transcei.dant 
wisdom !  What  divine  benevolence  !  What  perfec- 
ticn'  The  character  of  Jesus  stands  alone;  it  has 
no  archetype  in  history ;  no  analogy  in  nature ;  no 
model  in  all  the  worlds  of  imagination  ;  as  portrayed 
in  scripture  it  could  only  have  been  drawn  from  a 
31* 


376  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

contemplation  of  the  living  reality.  It  was  the  con¬ 
ception  of  an  infinite  mind.  It  was  the  triumph  of 
mercy  aiming  to  condense  in  the  same  being  the  evi¬ 
dences  of  divinity,  adequate  illustration  of  divine 
love,  and  the  power  of  winning  the  souls  of  men  to 
salvation,  and  transforming  them  to  holiness. 

The  character  of  Christ  forms  a  distinct  proof,  an 
invincible  demonstration  for  the  truth  of  the  gospel. 
When  we  remember  that  it  received  a  tribute  of 
homage  from  fallen  spirits,  we  shall  the  less  wonder 
that  it  has  extorted  expressions  of  reverence  from 
some  of  the  worst  specimens  of  fallen  humanity. 
Men,  who  have  sported  with  the  sanctity  of  every 
thing  else  that  religion  owns,  have  passed  by  the 
character  of  Christ  in  respectful  silence ;  this  was 
conscience,  recognizing  in  his  perfection  a  likeness 
which  it  felt  it  ought  to  be  familiar  with  and  adore  ; 
such  is  the  awful  power  of  goodness  on  natures  pre- 
c.onfigured  to  its  image.  Some  have  been  entirely 
restrained  from  violating  the  sanctuary  of  truth,  by 
the  same  guardian  influence:  the  character  of  Christ, 
like  the  presence  of  a  shrined,  protected  it.  As  the 
house  of  Obededom  was  blessed  for  the  sake  ofthe  re¬ 
siding  ark,  so  religion  has  often  escaped  evil,  and  re¬ 
ceived  homage  from  its  foes,  for  the  sake  of  the  char¬ 
acter  of  Christ.  Men  who  have  destroyed,  in  inten¬ 
tion,  every  other  part  of  the  temple  of  truth,  have 
paused  when  they  came  to  this  ;  have  turned  aside 
and  desisted  for  a  while  from  the  work  of  demoli¬ 
tion,  to  gaze  and  bow  before  it ;  have  not  merely  left 
it  standing  as  a  column  too  majestic,  or  an  altar  too 
holy,  for  human  sacrilege  to  assail,  but  (it  was  the 
only  redeeming  act  in  their  history,)  have  even  in¬ 
scribed  their  names  on  its  base,  and  have  been  heard 
to  burst  forth  in  admiring  exclamations  approaching 
to  love. 

The  peculiar  excellences  of  the  character  of  Christ 
as  an  argument  for  the  gospel,  are,  that  it  tends  to  at¬ 
tract  and  invite  inspection  ;  for  it  is  the  perfection  of 
moral  beauty  :  it  is  level  to  the  apprehension  of  all ; 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


377 


for  it  makes  a  direct  appeal  to  some  of  the  first  prin¬ 
ciples  of  our  nature,  to  our  natural  perceptions  of 
goodness,  and  our  instinctive  approval  of  it  ,  ancl  it 
not  only  convinces,  but  transforms ;  engaging  anc 
carrying  with  it  at  once  the  understanding  and  the 
heart  While  some,  who  were  m  the  last  stages  of 
depravity,  have  been  allured  by  it  to  the  pursuit  of 
excellence  ;  others,  who  have  been  sitting  m  despon¬ 
dency  at  the  gates  of  perdition,  have  beheld  it,  and 
conceived  hope.  And  though  the  best  specimens  of 
our  race  have,  in  every  age  since  his  appearance, 
been  laboring  to  imitate,  they  have  not  been  able  to 
eQual  it.  The  character  of  Jesus  challenges  the  af¬ 
fections  of  all  intelligent  beings,  leaves  the  impres¬ 
sion  of  its  image  on  every  object  it  touches,  and  is 
destined  to  collect  around  itself  all  the  sanctified  pas- 

S * °J5 u t° be sides^1  bein g  an  evidence  for  Christianity,  the 
character  of  our  Lord  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  exam- 
nle  “  I  have  given  you  an  example,  said  lie,  that 
ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  unto  you.  Learn  of  me. 
A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  ove 
one  another  ;  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love 
one  another.”  Thus  he  seeks  to  augment  the  value 
of  his  own  character,  regarded  as  an  argument  for 
the  gospel,  by  multiplying  the  copies  of  Ins  excel¬ 
lence  in  the  lives  of  all  his  people  :  he  would  render 
each  of  his  disciples  like  himself— a  living  demon¬ 
stration  for  the  truth.  All  the  wealth  of  moral  pow¬ 
er  which  the  wise  and  good  have  ever  possessed  is 
summed  up  in  him,  and  infinitely  augmented,  and 
brought  to  bear  on  the  hearts  of  Ins  people  ;  that  by 
living  as  under  the  focus  of  all  excellence,  they 
might  be  transformed  into  the  same  image.  Having 
turned  all  his  infinite  nature  into  grace,  having  dis¬ 
solved  into  a  fountain  of  healing  mercy  for  the s  ie- 
covery  of  the  world,  he  would  now  employ  the  hearts 
of  his  people  as  consecrated  channels  for  the  diftu 
sion  of  its  streams  ;  he  would  have  their  natures  like 
his  own,  changed  into  tenderness  and  love.  It  is 


378 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

true,  his  example  can  never  be  equalled,  for  it  em¬ 
bodies  infinite  goodness;  but  with  so  much  the 
gieatei  force  does  it  oblige  us,  in  our  humble  mea¬ 
sure,  to  attempt  the  imitation.  Having  adopted  our 
humanity,  when  it  was  only  related  to  him  like  other 
natures,  by  creation,  he  is  surely  entitled  to  expect 
that  we  should  love  our  own  flesh,  that  we  should 
seek  the  welfare  of  the  nature  which  is  essentially 
our  own,  by  diffusing  the  greatest  possible  happiness 
among  those  connatural  with  us.  Having  died  for 
the  good  of  man,  the  least  he  is  authorized  to  ex¬ 
pect  is,  that  we  should  live  for  the  same  benevolent 
object.  \\  hat  do  we  behold  in  his  history,  but  a  life 
o  humility,  one  continued  act  of  condescension,  a 
vast  and  unbroken  descent  from  the  heights  of  liea- 
\  en  to  the  form  o f  a  servant,  the  life  of  an  outcast,  the 
death  of  a  malefactor  ?  The  least  use  then  we  can 
make  of  his  example — we  who  have  it  not  in  our 
power,  as  sinners,  to  practice  great  condescension, 
since  we  are  all  on  a  level  in  the  dust  already — is  to 
assisteach  other  to  arise,  aiding  the  infirmietis  of  the 
weak,  and  breathing  a  spirit  of  sympathetic  tender¬ 
ness  for  all.  As  far  as  religion  is  practical  and  rela¬ 
tive  to  others,  he  has  made  benevolence  its  life  and 
essence  ;  not  merely  a  part  of  the  Christian  character 
but  the  character  itself 

And  how  eminently  is  the  tender  compassion  of 
Christ  calculated  to  encourage  all  to  repair  to  him 
When  the  more  prominent  parts  of  his  history  are 
made  to  pass  before  our  eyes,  if  we  are  not  destitute 
of  all  sensibility,  how  softening  and  hallowing  the  ef¬ 
fect  they  produce  on  the  min'd !  How  impossible  is 
it  for  the  most  timid  spirit  to  picture  the  serenity  of 
that  brow  which  no  evil  passions  ever  disturbed  to 
mark  the  benovolence  which  beamed  from  his  eye 
and  to  listen  to  the  tones  of  that  voice  which  soothed* 
and  cheered  the  most  fearful  and  sorrowful,  without 
feeling  itself  drawn  nearer  and  closer  to  his  side 
Wherever  his  grace  is  scripturally  displayed,  it  se¬ 
cures  the  attention  of  the  most  thoughtless,  it  melts 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


379 


the  hardest  and  subdues  the  proudest  heart,  and  in¬ 
spires  the  most  fearful  with  hope.  The  apostle  de¬ 
clares,  that  had  the  princes  of  ^^'voridknn 
him  thev  would  not  have  crucified  him  ,  had  they 
known  the  principle  of  love  which  hnouglit  hiiri  li  om 
heaven,  they  would  have  been  disarmed  of  then  ha 
tred  against  him,  and  instead  ot  condemning  him, 
they  would  have  paid  him  homage  as  the  prince  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth.  Had  those  who  were  most 
eager  to  hasten  his  crucifixion,  and  most  dehghte 
with  his  death  caught  but  a  g  impse  o  his  love 
which  dictated  every  action  ot  his  life,  then  cruel 
malignity  must  have  yielded  and  given  place  to 

feigned  penitence  and  love.  .  ,. 

The  character  of  Christ  is  the  character  of  Ins  dis¬ 
pensation  ;  it  is  the  dispensation  of  the  sti  small 
voice  :  and  the  secret  of  its  power  is  love.  I  jis  min¬ 
isters,  therefore,  are  to  win  souls,  to  persuade  men, 
to  beseech  them,  to  mingle  their  instructions  with 
tears;  and  the  more  deeply  they  are  imbued  with 
the  mind  of  Christ,  the  more  tender  will  be  then  ad¬ 
dress,  the  more  affectionate  their  message.  I  hey 
have  only  to  consult  their  own  experience  to  learn 
that  the  public  exhibition  of  Christ,  as  the  Savnour 
sinners,  constitutes  the  most  welcome  and  profitable 
S  on  which  they  can  enlarge  ;  that,  whatever 
their  subject  may  be,  like  John  the  baptist  pointing 
abruptly  to  his  passing  Lord,  that  cannot  be  a  fau  y 
digression  which  directs  their  hearers  to  behold  the 

L  The^ac^that  Jesus  Christ  was  peculiarly  his  own 
subject,  teaches  us  that  he  ought  also  to  be  ours ;  and 
that  aspect  of  his  character  which  he  most  delighted 
to  exhibit,  must  be  the  feature  to  which  we i  shouhi 
o-ive  especial  prominence;  and  what  was  that  but 
tender  compassion  for  the  souls  of  men  ?  Approach, 
Iheu  and  iJok  upon  him :  the  nature  in  which  you 

behold  him  clothed  is  truly  your  own .  he  has  as 

sumed  it  that  he  may  dissipate  all  your  leais.  that 
he  might  taste  death  for  you ;  that  he  may  absorb 


380 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


and  carry  away  all  your  sorrows  ;  that  lie  may  claim 
kindred  with  you  ;  that  he  may  discharge  for  you  all 
the  kind  and  beneficent  offices  of  brotherhood  ;  that 
he  might  make  it  impossible  for  you  to  doubt  his 
love.  Approach,  and  behold  his  hands  and  his  feet ; 
those  are  the  wounds  which  he  received  when  he 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  bruised  for  our 
iniquities,  when  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was 
upon  him,  that  by  his  stripes  we  might  be  healed. 
Urge  nothing  in  excuse  for  not  coming  to  him;  lose 
not  the  time  necessary  to  utter  it ;  for  whatever  your 
guilt  or  weakness,  your  wants  or  unworthiness  may 
be,  ns  grace  overrules  and  provides  for  the  whole. 
He  knows  the  value  of  a  religious  principle  too  well, 
as  well  as  the  dangers  to  which  it  is  exposed,  to  de¬ 
spise  it  on  account  of  its  weakness;  he  does  not  wait 
lor  a  time,  to  see  whether  the  spark  of  pietv  will  in¬ 
crease  or  vanish:  but  he  watches  it,  and  solicits  and 
tee ds  it,  until  it  rises  into  a  pure  and  steady  flame  of 
devotiou  towards  God.  He  does  not  disregard  the 
piety  of  the  poor  and  destitute,  because  they  are  un¬ 
able  to  advocate  his  cause,  or  to  contribute  to  its  sup¬ 
port  more  than  two  mites,  or  to  adorn  it  with  earthly 
splendor;  the  arms  of  his  love  embrace  alike  the  ob¬ 
scure  and  the  more  useful ;  and  if  you  are  only  con¬ 
scious  of  ii  desire  to  love  him,  a  concern  to  please 
bun,  you  share  a  place  in  his  heart  in  common  with 
the  angels  around  his  throne.  When  the  backslider 
relapses  into  the  state  from  which  he  had  been  res¬ 
cued,  and  seems  even  to  prosecute  his  sinful  course 
with  renewed  avidity,  he  does  not,  as  man  common¬ 
ly  does,  regard  him  as  lost.  He  goes  after  him  into 
the  wilderness  ;  sends  afflictions  in  pursuit  of  him  • 
and  waits  to  see  the  effect  which  trial  and  reflection 
produce.  And  if,  like  the  prodigal,  the  sinner  should 
come  to  himself  and  say,  “I  will  arise  and  return” 
and  actually  begins  to  retrace  his  steps,  the  Saviour 
delays  not  in  order  to  see  how  far  he  will  return— 
he  sees  him  yet  a  great  wqiy  off  and  runs  to  meet 
him  he  is  delighted  at  the  first  indications  of  peni- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


381 


tence,  anticipates  his  intention,  assists  lmn  in  return¬ 
ing  and  rejoices  over  him  as  one  who  was  dead  and 
is  alive  a°-ain.  We  ourselves  can  trace  the  mightiest 
occurrences  back  to  sources  the  most  insignificant ; 
and,  with  intuitive  ease,  the  Saviour  beholds,  in  the 
first  emotion  of  the  penitent,  the  first  symptom  of  an 
endless  life,  the  first  step  in  a  career  of  glory,  honor, 
and  immortality.  He  does  not  therefore  despise  the 
day  of  small  things.  And  how  many  thousands  of 
the  blessed,  who  are  now  surrounding  his  throne 
above,  are  constrained,  on  looking  back  to  the  wea 
ness  of  their  early  religious  impressions,  and  the  hes¬ 
itation  with  which  at  first  they  advanced  in  the  path 
of  life,  to  bless  him  that  he  did  not  break  the  bruised 
reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax.  O  that  you  knew 
the  unutterable  interest  which  he  takes  in  every  sen- 
ous  emotion  of  your  soul,  you  would  love  him  more, 
and  resort  to  him  oftener,  and  repose  m  lnm  all  the 


confidence  which  he  asks.  , 

Finally  :  let  those  of  my  readers  who  have  been 
hitherto 'regardless  of  the  ineffable  compassion  of  the 
Son  of  God,  remember  the  melting  tones  of  remon¬ 
strance  with  which,  when  looking  round  upon  such 
as  you,  he  said,  in  all  the  grief  of  defeated  mercy, 

“  Ye  will  not  come  unto  tne  that  ye  might  have  life. 
You  can  go  to  others,  and  inquire  the  way  to  happi¬ 
ness  :  you  can  believe  what  they  say  ;  you  do  tohow 
their  advice  ;  but  to  him  who  has  laid  out  himself  for 
your  welfare,  who  alone  could  make  the  vast  Fu¬ 
sion  necessary  for  your  immortal  happiness,  and  who 
has  made  it  at  the  expense  of  an  infinite  sacrifice,  to 
him  you  will  not  come.  He  has  to  complain  of  you, 
that  while  you  have  been  always  ready  to  yie  d  to 
the  solicitations  of  the  world,  to  follow  the  first  beck 
of  temptation,  to  accept  of  any  invitation  in  the  shape 
of  worldly  pleasure,  yet^  his  call  you  will  not  obey. 
He  has  to  complain  of  you,  that  you  put  him  oft 
with  mere  professions,  and  make  him  to  serve  with 
the  mere  semblance  of  friendship  ;  that  though  you 
have  for  years  frequented  his  house,  and  heard  his 


382 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

invitations,  and  been  pressed  to  accept  them,  you 
still  remain  on  terms  as  cold  and  distant  with  him  as 
ever ;  that  you  never  come  to  his  footstool  as  suppli¬ 
ants,  nor  to  his  table  as  friends,  nor  walk  in  his  way 
as  devoted  disciples.  But  he  will  not  let  you  go  : 
though  he  feels  your  obstinate  refusal  to  him ;  feels 
it  as  an  insult  to  his  grace  ;  feels  it  as  a  deep  disap¬ 
pointment,  a  grievous  frustration  of  an  object  on  which 
his  heart  was  set,  yet  once  more  he  comes  to  you ; 
and,  O,  mark  and  admire  the  gentleness  of  the  terms 
in  which  he  expostulates — it  is  the  melting  rebuke 
of  mercy  chiding  you  into  its  embrace — “Ye  will  not 
come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life.”  There  is  a 
sense,  perhaps,  in  which,  owing  to  your  prolonged 
and  stony  indifference  to  his  claims,  you  may  be  said 
to  have  closed  your  hearts  against  him ;  but  he  seeks 
to  surmount  even  this  obstacle  ;  “  Behold,”  saith  he, 
“  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.”  He  knows  what 
unholy  guests  are  within,  what  sins  are  entertained 
and  regaled  in  the  chambers  of  your  hearts,  while  he 
is  kept  standing  without  and  refused  admission. 
But  still,  by  the  instrumentality  of  his  gospel,  if  by 
nothing  else,  he  continues  to  knock  and  to  urge  you 
to  come  to  him:  or  he  tenderly  upbraids  you  that 
you  will  not. 

But  why  does  the  blessed  Jesus  thus  expostulate  ? 
“  It  is  not,”  saith  he,  “  that  I  receive  honor  of  men  ; 
it  is  not  that  I  seek  to  be  gratified  with  the  barren  ap¬ 
plauses  of  men,  or  that  I  hope  for  human  requital ; 
but  these  things  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  might  be 
saved.”  Yes,  Saviour  of  sinners,  this  is  thine  only 
object,  that  they  might  be  saved  ;  the  object  of  all 
thou  hast  said  to  them,  and  of  all  thou  hast  done  for 
them ;  the  object  which  is  always  present  to  thy 
mind.  For  this  thou  hast  surrounded  thyself  with 
convincing  proofs  of  thine  appointment  and  power 
to  save  ;  and,  O,  surpassing  grace,  thou  even  consen- 
test  to  wait  for  their  decision  till  they  have  examined 
the  evidence  of  thy  claims  in  detail.  For  this  thou 
hast  withheld  nothing,  not  even  thy  blood,  thy  life  ; 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE. 


383 


thou  hast  done  so  much  for  them  that  infinite  love 

can  do  no  more.  ~ 

Behold,  then;  behold,  m  the  boundless  love  01 

Christ,  a  sufficient  inducement  to  repair  to  him  at  once. 
He  may  be  regarded,  at  this  moment,  as  standing  be¬ 
fore  you,  with  the  hoarded  love  of  eternity  m  Ins 
heart,  offering  to  make  you  heirs  of  all  its  wealth ; 
nor  is  it  in  your  power  to  grieve  him  more,  than  by 
disregarding  the  gracious  overture.  He  tears  noth¬ 
ing  but  your  neglect;  deprecates  nothing  but  your 
inattention.  The  first  look  you  direct  towards  him, 
would  not  escape  his  notice  ;  the  first  step  you  take 
towards  him,  would  bring  him  more  than  a  step  to¬ 
wards  you.  All  things  are  ready  for  your  reception  ; 
lie  will  meet  your  weakness  with  his  almig  i  y 
strength,  your  emptiness  and  poverty  with  Ins  inex¬ 
haustible  fullness. 


32 


ESSAY  V. 

the  practicalness  of  our  lord’s  teaching. 

“  Blessed  are  they  who  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  keep  it.” 

“  Be  ye  perfect  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.” 

I.  Considered  as  a  teacher  of  holiness,  our  Lord 

Jesus  Christ  exemplified  his  wisdom,  not  only  in  the 

ight  which  he  imparted,  but  also  in  what  he  with¬ 
held. 

1.  Pretenders  to  a  divine  revelation  have  seldom 
omitted  to  infuse  into  their  systems  of  error  a  large 
proportion  of  the  marvelous.  Calculating  on  the 
credulity,  and  ravenous  curiosity  of  the  multitude, 
they  have  been  graphic  and  unsparing  in  their  dis¬ 
closures  of  the  invisible  and  future.  Besides  pan¬ 
dering  to  the  prevailing  passions  of  mankind,  they 
have  aimed  to  establish  their  dominion  by  stimulat¬ 
ing  and  engrossing  the  imagination  with  wonders  • 
and  having  raised  the  veil  of  mystery  to  its  utmost 
height,  they  proceed  to  measure  the  infinite,  to  paint 
the  inconceivable,  and  to  materialize  and  subject  the 
spiritual  to  the  senses. 

But  he  who  came  forth  from  the  bosom  of  the 
r  ather,  and  who  could  therefore  have  dazzled  and 
astounded  the  world  with  celestial  visions,  practised 
a  wise  and  gracious  reserve.  He  came,  not  to  as¬ 
tonish,  but  to  instruct  and  to  save ;  and  to  instruct 
solely  with  a  view  to  save ;  and,  knowing  that  to 
teed  curiosity  is  only  to  increase  its  appetite,  that  to 
impart  a  particle  of  knowledge  more  than  is  essen¬ 
tial  to  our  advance  in  the  path  of  holiness,  would  op¬ 
erate  as  a  diversion  from  that  path  rather  than  an  in¬ 
citement  in  it,  he  limited  his  communications  to  the 
exact  measure  of  practical  utility.  He  kept  his  hand 
1  1  may  say  so>  on  tfie  pulse  of  conscience,  and  ad- 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


385 


ministered  only  so  much  of  the  exciting  element  of 
knowledge  as  would  subserve  the  health  and  holy 

activity  of  the  soul.  .  . 

In  order  to  estimate  the  gospel  aright,  it  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  bear  in  mind,  that  it  is  not  meant  for  intellect¬ 
ual  beings  as  such ;  it  is  not  addressed  to  man  in  Ins 
mental,  but  in  his  moral  capacity  :  it  contemplates 
him  as  a  lapsed  and  ruined  creature,  to  whom  the 
onlv  knowledge  that  is  essential  is  a  knowledge  ot 
the  way  of  deliverance.  If  besides  containing  this 
vital  information,  it  also  ministered  to  his  unsancti¬ 
fied  curiosity,  he  would,  undoubted^,  prior  to  his 
conversion,  value  it  the  more  highly  ;  but,  from  the 
moment  he  opened  his  eyes  to  a  perception  ot  his 
guilt  and  danger,  he  would  as  certainly  account  that 
very  circumstance  a  great  defect.  His  first  solicitude 
and  employment,  then,  would  be,  to  disentangle  and 
detaching  on  these,  and  on  these  alone,  the  name  ot 
gospel ,  the  plain  and  simple  prescriptions  of  mercy  ; 
and,  bestowing  would  cast  the  remainder  away  as  re¬ 
fuse,  as  an  insult  to  his  anguish,  a  mockery  ot  his 
woe.  However  unnatural  his  cravings  before,  noth¬ 
ing  now  but  the  unadulterated  bread  of  life  can  sat¬ 
isfy  his  famishing  soul.  . 

Accordingly,  at  the  hazard  of  displeasing  the  spec¬ 
ulative  and  inquisitive,  the  Saviour  confined  Ins  com¬ 
munications  to  the  wants  of  our  condition.  Repel¬ 
ling  the  curiosity  of  his  disciples,  liow  often  did  he 
turn  their  prying  inquiries  into  occasions  of  solemn 
practical  appeal.  When  they  sought  to  pluck  Irotn 
the  interdicted  tree  of  knowledge,  he  graciously  pre¬ 
sented  them  with  the  fruit  of  the  tree  ot  lite.  ihey 
found  every  avenue  closed,  but  the  narrow  way  that 
leadeth  to  life  eternal ;  every  fountain,  sealed,  but  the 
fountain  of  the  water  of  life.  While  the  heavenly 
Oracle  was  prompt  in  answering  even  the  mental 
and  unuttered  inquiries  of  the  devout  and  humble, 
the  inquisitive  received  a  rebuke  which  contained  a 
blessing.  Having  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,  to  open  a  way  from  the  mouth  ot 


38(1 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


that  fearful  pit  around  which  we  had  gathered  to  the 
gate  of  heaven,  he  caused  all  the  light  of  revelation 
which  he  shed  to  fall  on  that  path  alone  :  that  we 
might  not  he  tempted  to  wander  from  the  highway  of 
holiness,  he  left  it  skirted  on  each  hand  with  original 
darkness  ;  while,  from  whatever  part  of  the  spacious 
firmament  of  truth  he  brought  the  beams  of  revela¬ 
tion,  he  caused  them  all  to  converge  and  rest  on  that 
straight  and  narrrowway. 

2.  But  if  we  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  Great 
Teacher,  in  thus  limiting  his  discoveries  to  the  mea¬ 
sure  of  our  wants  and  interests,  we  cannot  withhold 
our  complacency  at  his  legislation,  in  delivering  a 
code  of  pure  and  simple  morality  entirely  unencum¬ 
bered  by  the  clogs  of  an  onerous  and  elaborate  ritu¬ 
al.  Discharging  his  disciples  from  the  cares  and  vex¬ 
atious  obligations  of  the  ancient  ceremonial,  he  has 
laid  aside  for  them  every  such  weight,  and  left  them 
free  for  the  race  of  holiness  to  heaven.  The  rites  of 
baptism  and  the  Lord’s  supper  are  too  simple  and 
spiritual  to  be  treated  as  exceptions  to  this  fact.  In¬ 
stead  of  wasting  the  powers,  and  exhausting  the  vig¬ 
or  of  the  soul,  on  outward  observances,  he  holds  it 
disengaged  and  fresh  for  the  upward  path  of  holi¬ 
ness.  Economizing  our  energies  and  passions,  he 
points  us  to  a  sphere  of  duty  in  which  angels  might 
engage  with  honor,  and  commands  us  to  put  forth  all 
our  strength,  adorning  ourselves  with  all  that  is  fair, 
emulating  all  that  is  great,  overtaking  the  excellences 
and  embodying  the  perfections  of  heavenly  natures. 
Having  touched  and  given  impulse  to  all  our  spiritual 
powers,  instead  of  impairing  that  momentum  by 
calling  us  to  surmount  the  obstacles  of  preliminary 
rites,  he  collects  and  compacts  its  force,  and  dismis¬ 
ses  it  in  a  line  direct  from  heaven.  Treating  our  na¬ 
ture  with  a  divine  respect,  the  code  which  he  enacts 
is  one  of  generous  authority,  taking  olf  every  de¬ 
pressing  weight,  only  prescribing  what  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  actuated  in  doing  so  by  the  aim  of 
building  up  our  character  into  a  goodly  fabric  of 
spiritual  beauty  and  perfection. 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


387 


II  If  it  comported  with  our  design  to  specify  the 
subject  of  our  Lord’s  discourses,  we  should  unhesi¬ 
tatingly  say,  that  his  most  favorite  practical  topics  were 
humility  before  God,  and  a  spirit  of  forbearance  and  love 
towards  man.  In  the  inculcation  of  morals,  by  unin¬ 
spired  teachers,  novelty  is  the  last  quality  to  be 
desired,  since  it  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  error;  but 
the  practical  instructions  of  Jesus  had  this  distinction, 
that  their  peculiarities  were  excellences.  One  ot 
these  marked  peculiarities  consists  in  his  taking 
under  his  special  protection  certain  dispositions 
which  the  world  had  consented  to  brand  and  cast 
out,  had  conspired  to  frown  out  of  existence  ,  in  le- 
storing  them  to  the  rank  of  duties,  and  proclaiming 
them  graces  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

1  Humility  is  a  habit  of  mind  which  has  never 
been  in  favor  with  the  world :  in  every  age  it  has 
been  degraded  into  the  footstool  of  vanity,  and  con¬ 
ceit,  and  enthroned  pride ;  but,  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  unanimous  verdict  of  mankind,  he  raised  it 
out  of  the  dust  into  which  it  was  trodden,  pronounc¬ 
ed  it  a  favorite  of  heaven,  and  clothed  it  with  the 
garments  of  salvation.  “  Blessed  are  the  poor  m 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Since  the  fatal  moment  when  man  aspired  to  be 
as  a  <md,”  his  great  quarrel  with  Ins  Maker  has  been, 
a  determination  to  assert  a  power  ol  independence 
altogether  alien  to  his  nature  and  condition.  I  he 
standard  of  revolt  was  then  erected  ;  and  the  history 
of  all  his  subsequent  conduct  has  been  the  lustoiy 
of  an  insane  endeavor  to  construct  an  empire,  gov¬ 
erned  by  laws,  and  replenished  with  resources, 
independent  of  God.  The  idolatry,  and  sensuality, 
the  unbelief,  irreligion,  and  all  the  multiform  sins  of 
man  are  resolvable  into  this  proud  and  infernal 
attempt.  Now,  before  God  can  do  any  thing  towards 
our  personal  recovery,  it  is  obviously  necessary  that 
we  should  be  disabused  of  the  idea  of  our  supposed 
self-sufficiency  ;  that,  descending  from  the  pedestal 
our  pride  has  erected,  we  should  cast  ourselves  down 
y  32* 


388 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


at  his  feet,  and  await  his  pleasure.  The  true  value 
of  humility  consists  in  its  inducing  us  to  desire  and 
welcome  the  assistance  we  need,  to  abandon  our¬ 
selves  cordially  to  the  divine  direction,  to  return,  and 
descend,  and  gratefully  to  occupy  our  proper  station 
at  his  footstool,  as  pensioners  on  his  bounty  and 
grace.  “  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  they  that  are  sick  and  they  only  will  apply  to 
him  for  aid. 

Alas,  for  man,  that  his  humility  should  have  to  be 
accounted  a  virtue  ;  that,  by  simply  conforming  his 
views  to  his  condition,  and  taking  a  just  estimate  of 
his  state  and  character,  he  should  render  himself  an 
object  of  congratulation  to  man,  and  of  peculiar  com¬ 
placency  to  God  ;  what  a  depth  of  depravity  does  it 
imply,  what  a  reproach  on  our  nature  does  it  convey, 
for  a  blind  and  insignificant  creature  to  believe  his 
infinite  Creator,  for  a  guilty  and  condemned  criminal 
to  accept  of  pardon,  {or  a  man  in  the  act  of  perish¬ 
ing  to  submit  to  be  saved,  that  this  should  he  es¬ 
teemed  a  virtue !  and  should  be  lauded  with  a 
warmth  which  denotes  its  rareness  !  “  This  is  indeed 
a  lamentation,  and  shall  be  for  a  lamentation.”  But, 
condescending  to  our  condition,  our  Lord  inculcated 
humility  as  a  cardinal  grace,  promoting  it  to  the 
highest  place  in  the  catalogue  of  virtues.  He  repeat¬ 
edly  intimated,  that  while  a  spirit  of  self-exaltation 
shall  finally  be  smitten  with  a  blow  which  it  cannot 
survive,  that  while  the  Almighty  will  array  against 
this  avowed  antagonist  all  the  forces  of  his  wrath, 
and  will  not  rest  till  he  has  driven  it  far  from  his 
presence,  into  outer  and  endless  darkness,  humility 
shall  be  raised  from  glory  to  glory,  till  it  has  reached 
the  loftiest  throne  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

But  that  which  gives  peculiar  emphasis  to  his  in¬ 
culcations  on  this  subject  is,  that  humility  is  insepa¬ 
rably  connected  with  the  cordial  reception  of  his 
gospel;  so  that,  in  enjoining  it,  he  is  infallibly  prepar¬ 
ing  the  way  for  the  enlargement  of  his  holy  kingdom. 
Humility  is  the  conservator  of  the  virtues ;  nor  is 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


389 


there  an  act  or  office  peculiar  to  Christians  in  which 
Its  influence  is  not  tally  felt  As  portrayed  by 
him,  on  entering  his  evangelical  churc h  it is >a  httle 
child  to  whom  belie!  is  natural,  an  emblem  _tl 
dor  simplicity,  and  faith  ;  when  hearing  Ins  word,  it 
sits’ at  his  feet  and  is  all  docility  and  attention  ;  on 
en  el"  tl*  presence  of  Go<l,  ii  throws  itself  pros- 
S"  «  smites  on  its  breast,  and  dares  not  hit  up  so 
much  as  its  eves  to  heaven  ;  when  it  is  free  to  take 
the  highest  seat  in  the  assembly,  it  voluntai liv  selects 
the  lowest,  and  is  taken  by  surprise  ,t  called  up 
higher  :  in  the  presence  of  superior  excellence,  it  is 
praise  and  imitation  ;  associated  with  fellow-elnis- 
ti-ms  it  is  willing  subordination,  emulous  ol  no  dis- 
Son  but  that  which  arises  from  preeminent 

service:  it  declines  to  be  called  ‘  master,  and  lays 

an  its  honors  at  the  Saviour’s  feet;  and  when,  at 
length  he  shall  ascend  his  throne,  and  enumerate  its 
lodlike  deeds  he  describes  it  as  filled  with  self- 
abasement  even  there,  and  diffident  o!  receivm|  his 
divine  award.  Under  the  reign  of  holiness,  it  is  tne 
oflic-  of  humility  to  lay  a  foundation  lor  universal 
obedience,  by  filling  every  subject  with  gratitude  foi 
flic  blessings  he  enjoys, and  making  him  itel  that  tne 
lowest  Situation  isYpist  of  unrenrrtted  disuucuon, 
held  bv.a  grant  from  sovereign  giace. 

2  Benevolence — meaning  by  that  term  the  most 
enlarged  exercise  of  forbearance,  forgiveness,  and 
m ve— —was  another  despised  and  unworldly  obliga¬ 
tion  which  he  rescued  and  enforced  by  the  highest 
sanctions.  Under  the  disorganizing  influence  oi  sin, 
the  tendency  of  the  world  is  to  a  state  of  universal 
misanthropy.  Having  lost  its  original  center  in  God, 
J Semite  not  to  find  any  common  point  ot  repose, 
hut  spends  itself  in  fruitless  efforts  to  erect  an  nifini- 
interests.  Every  kingdom  and 
province  every  family,  every  individual  discovers 
nrooensity  to  insulate  himself  from  the  common 
brothmhood,  and  to  constitute  himself  the  center  of 
an  all-subordinating  and  ever-enlarging  cucle.  Such 


390 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


is  the  natural  egotism  of  the  heart,  that  each  individ¬ 
ual,  following  his  unrestrained  bent,  acts  as  if  he 
were  a  whole  kingdom  in  himself,  and  as  if  the 
general  well-being  depended  on  subjection  to  his 
supremacy.  He  would  fain  be  his  own  end  ;  him¬ 
self  the  reason  of  all  he  does.  On  this  ungodly  and 
unnatural  experiment  the  Saviour  laid  his  sovereign 
interdict.  He  places  it  in  every  light,  takes  us  to 
view  it  from  every  point,  in  order  to  show  us  its  fla¬ 
grant  sinfulness;  and  no  sooner  do  we  place  our¬ 
selves  at  his  disposal,  than  we  find  ourselves  restored 
and  related  to  all  around,  and  engaged  in  a  career  of 
godlike  benevolence:  we  “  remember  the  words  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  how  he  said,  it  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.” 

He  sought  to  neutralize  the  maxims  of  the  world 
in  favor  of  selfishness  and  revenge,  by  bringing  into 
currency  opposing  maxims  of  forgiveness  and  love. 
He  would  have  it  impressed  on  us,  that  we  owe  to 
every  man  a  debt  of  affection  which  is  never  dis¬ 
charged  ;  that  we  owe  it  to  him  as  one  of  our  own 
kind  :  and  that  no  conduct  of  his,  however  personally 
offensive,  can  ever  release  us  from  the  obligation  of 
seeking  his  welfare.  He  would  have  us  to  honor  all 
men  ;  to  pay  respect  to  human  nature  ;  to  aim  at  the 
general  good  of  that  human  family  into  which  we 
have  been  born  everlasting  members.  “  Peter  said 
unto  him,  Lord,  how  often  shall  my  brother  sin 
against  me,  and  I  forgive  him  ;  until  seven  times? 
Jesus  answered,  I  say  not  unto  thee  till  seven  times, 
but  until  seventy  times  seven.”  And,  when  we  have 
done  this,  he  points  us  to  the  conduct  of  our  heaven¬ 
ly  Father,  and  renders  the  duty  of  forgiveness 
infinite,  while  he  says,  “  Be  ye  merciful,  even  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  merciful.”  He  meets  us  on  our 
way  to  the  throne  to  obtain  forgiveness,  and  he  as¬ 
sures  us  that,  however  costly  the  gift  we  may  be 
about  to  lay  on  the  holy  altar,  God  is  not  to  be  bribed 
to  do  that  for  us  which  we  refuse  to  do  for  others  ; 
that  there  is  no  access  to  his  presence,  no  audience, 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


391 


no  hope,  until  our  friendship  for  man  is  entire,  lie 
supposes  us  to  have  even  reached  the  altar,  to  lie 
standing  in  the  immediate  presence  ot  God;  he  sup¬ 
poses  the  religious  service  to  have  -reached  that 
juncture  when  the  Deity  is  actually  waiting  to  receive 
the  offering,— what  now  can  be  of  sufficient  impor¬ 
tance  to  stop  the  service  ?  he  teaches  us  that  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  forgiveness  is  that  important  thing,  and  that 
while  that  is  performing  the  majesty  of  heaven  and 
earth  consents  to  wait.  And,  to  save  Ins  disciples 
from  all  reservation  and  delusion  on  this  subject,  he 
taught  them  to  pray  that  the  measure  in  which  they 
forgive  might  be  the  standard  by  which  God  would 
dispense  liis  grace  to  them  :  thus  leaving  to  revenge 
no  alternative  but  instant  reconciliation,  or  the  im¬ 
precation  of  revenge  on  its  own  head. 

1  He  represents  our  Almighty  Father  as  conceding 
his  high  prerogative,  merging  the  consideration  ol 
the  infinite  difference  between  our  offenses  agai  1 
his  majesty,  and  the  offenses  of  a  fellow .  mortal 
against  our  insignificance,  and  offering  us  pju  on 
grace  for  grace,  “if  we  from  the  heart  ioigive 
Sfe  hi*  brother  their  trespasses.”  He  would  have 
every  man  proclaim  a  general  amnesty ;  an  act  o 
oblivion  of  all  injuries  ;  a  year  of  jubilee ;  and  that 
jubilee  he  would  have  us  to  make  perpetual. 

The  world  has  no  notion  of  vanquishing  enemies, 
except  by  the  employment  of  outward  force,  by  the 
exercise  of  revenge,  and  the  infliction  of  punish¬ 
ment.  Jesus  Christ  has  brought  into  operation  a 
new  power  for  subduing  an  enemy.  He  enjoins  hi, 
disciples  to  try  the  efficacy  of  love  :  not  to  content 
themselves  with  mere  negative  benevolence,  or,  not 
avenging  themselves  ;  but  to  breathe  back  love  for 
hatred,  and  blessings  for  curses.  He  points timmto 
the  triumphant  effects  of  this  principle  in  the  hand 
of  God ;  and,  taking  out  of  their  hands  the  weapo 
of  revenge,  he  would  have  them  to  make  trial  ot  it 
also.  And  is  it  possible  for  them  to  survey  the  un¬ 
confined  goodness  of  God,  to  entertain  the  great  con- 


392 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


ception  of  infinite  goodness,  to  have  their  minds 
possessed  with  so  vast  and  glorious  an  idea,  without 
receiving  corresponding  impressions  ?  they  will  be 
lead  by  a  necessity  of  nature  to  imitate  that  diffusive 
goodness,  to  act  the  god,  if  I  may  say  so,  in  their 
small  and  limited  spheres ;  to  exercise  the  divine 
prerogative  of  mercy,  to  wield  that  power,  before 
which  all  opposition  is  destined  to  give  way — the 
omnipotent  power  of  love. 

As  a  spiritual  being,  man  is  the  offspring  of  the 
Father  of  spirits;  this  is  a  relation  and  an  honor 
which  he  cannot  lose;  and  in  this  high  capacity,  the 
Saviour,  having  further  dignified  us  with  his  own 
love,  proposes  every  human  being  as  a  magnificent 
object  of  affection  to  the  whole  species.  Taking  us 
from  that  small  circle,  that  point  of  selfishness  we 
have  made  our  home,  and  where,  in  building  our¬ 
selves  in  from  the  incursion  of  outward  evils,  we 
have  at  the  same  time  shut  out  the  sight  of  the  great, 
the  spiritual,  and  the  future,  he  conducts  us  to  a 
mount  of  vision  from  which  all  the  territorial  lines 
and  artificial  distinctions  of  society  are  no  longer  vis¬ 
ible,  and  where  the  living  landscape  presents  us 
with  a  view  of  one  vast  community  of  immortal 
beings,  claiming  the  same  distinguished  origin,  in¬ 
volved  in  a  common  danger,  invited  to  one  grand 
deliverance,  and  passing  together  into  the  unseen 
state.  While  surveying  this  comprehensive  and  af¬ 
fecting  scene,  he  would  have  us  especially  to  remark 
the  mutual  action,  the  certain  relation,  by  which, 
like  the  interdependence  of  the  planetary  system,  the 
interests  of  each  are  co-mingled  and  blended  with 
the  welfare  of  the  whole.  1  From  this  elevation  he 
points  us  to  the  infinite  resources  he  has  opened  for 
us  in  God  ;  reminding  us  that  we  have  access  to 
more  than  we  want,  in  order  that  wre  may  go  and  in  - 
strumentally  minister  to  the  wants  of  others.  Then 
dismissing  us  again  into  the  valve  of  life,  he  would 
have  us  to  descend  and  mingle  with  our  race,  sur¬ 
charged  with  a  benevolence  like  that  which  brought 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


39-3 


himself  from  heaven,  and  which  induces  him  still  to 
identify  our  interests  with  his  highest  glory. 

He  would  have  his  disciples  to  combine  in  a  god¬ 
like  endeavor  to  disarm  the  species ;  to  gather  out  ot 
his  kingdom  all  the  weapons  and  instruments  oi  re¬ 
venue,  casting  them  far  into  the  territories  ot  Satan, 
from  which  they  came ;  to  bring  the  art  oi  mutual 
destruction  into  disgrace  and  disuse  ;  and  to  prove 
their  descent  from  the  great  Peacemaker  oi  the  uni¬ 
verse,  by  binding  the  whole  family  oi  man  into  one 
vast  confederacy  of  mutual  assistance  and  hrotheily 
love.  “  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  for  they  shall 
be  called  the  children  of  God.”  The  ancient  dis¬ 
tinction  between  neighbor  and  enemy  he  has  anim¬ 
ated  ;  his  disciples  are  to  know  no  enemy  ;  the  very 
term  is  banished  from  the  Christian  vocabulary,  or 
to  he  inserted  only  as  obsolete.  He  would  have  them 
to  supersede  the  visible  employment  oi  angels  under 
the  present  economy  by  becoming  themselves  his 
angels  and  ambassadors  to  man.  By  commanding 
them  to  imitate  his  own  love,  lie  would  not  only  have 
them  supplant  but  surpass  angelic  ministrations;  like_ 
an  orphan  family,  whose  members  have  attained  an 
a ore  and  state  of  active  affection  in  which  the  foreign 
helps  they  enjoyed  in  childhood  are  made  unneces¬ 
sary,  by  their  mutually  caring  for  and  aiding  each 
other  ‘  The  friendships  which  are  cemented  in  ad¬ 
versity  are  commonly  of  a  more  tender,  disinterested, 
and  lasting  nature,  than  those  which  are  formed  in 
any  other  circumstances :  that  friendship  between  man 
and  man,  of  which  he  has  laid  the  foundation,  is  to  be 
eternal ;  and  therefore  would  he  see  it  cemented 
as  closely  as  possible,  by  having  it  commenced  while 
they  are  here  in  a  state  of  trial;  and  commenced, 
(how  wise,  how  worthy  of  himself  the  divine  arrange¬ 
ment!)  in  a  reciprocation  of  Christian  offices  whose 
issues  shall  reach  through  eternity.  For  not  only 
does  he  charge  them  to  do  all  the  good  they  can  to 
each  other  themselves,  he  takes  them  *°  thr°”® 
of  God,  and  invests  them  with  the  office  of  mutual 


394 


the  great  teacher, 


intercessors,  empowers  them  to  touch  and  set  in  mo¬ 
tion  an  almighty  agency  for  each  other  ;  lie  even  puts 
into  their  hands  the  means  of  mutual  salvation,  mak- 
mg  it  at  once  their  honor  and  office  to  assist  as  sub¬ 
ordinate  agents  in  training  and  conducting  each  other 
to  eternal  life. 

.^*  [n  entering  on  any  of  the  offices  or  relations  of 
Jde,  it  is  an  obvious  advantage  to  possess  a  view  of 
the  duties  peculiar  to  that  sphere,  in  as  brief,  clear, 
and  comprehensive  a  form  as  possible  ;  indeed,  if 
they  could  all  be  adequately  described  in  a  single 
sentence,  they  would  be  so  much  the  more  accepta¬ 
ble.  It  is  a  distinguished  excellence  of  the  Great 
teacher,  that  in  the  inculcation  of  morality,  he  pre- 
1  erred  comprehensive  rxtles  to  a  distinct  specification  of 
duties  ;  though  he  took  the  most  enlarged  view  of 
human  obligations,  he  generalized  and  enforced  them 
by  a  lew  compendious  laws,  instead  of  separately  le¬ 
gislating  for  each  particular  duty.  Had  he  adopted, 
or  rather  attempted,  the  latter  method,  descending  to 
a  minute  enumeration  of  duties,  it  would  have  involved 
tins  serious  evil— that  every  duty  which  might  have 
arisen  below  the  point  of  enumeration  would  have 
been  m  danger  of  being  treated  as  unobligatory,  be¬ 
cause  not  inserted  in  the  specification.  Glad  of  the 
plausible  excuse  arising  from  the  omission,  men 
would  have  regarded  every  duty  not  enjoined  as 
omissable,  and  every  sin  not  prohibited  as  allowable. 

.  V'.f  hai?ds  of  Jqsus,  the  science  of  morality  is 
simplified  and  complete.  A  single  prohibition  is  so 
planted  by  him,  that  like  a  piece  of  ordnance,  it  may 
be  said  to  enfilade  and  sweep  a  whole  territory  of  sin* 
nothing  can  come  within  its  range  without  chal¬ 
lenging  its  thunder  and  courting  death.  A  single 
rule  is  found  to  contain  laws  for  an  indefinite  number 
of  actions;  for  all  the  possible  cases,  of  the  class  de¬ 
scribed,  which  can  ever  occur.  Like  the  few  imagi- 
nary  circ  es  by  which  geography  circumscribes  the 
eaith,  he  has,  by  a  few  sentences,  described  and  dis- 
tnbuted  into  sections,  the  whole  globe  of  duty*  so 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


395 


that,  wherever  we  may  be  on  it,  we  find  ourselves 
encompassed  by  some  comprehensive  maxim ;  and, 
in  whatever  section  we  may  move,  we  have  only  to 
reflect,  in  order  to  perceive  that  we  are  receding  horn 
or  approaching  to  some  line  of  morality. 

By  thus  generalizing  morality  he  has  consulted  the 
weakness  of  the  most  impaired  memory  ;  presented 
us  with  a  map-like  view  of  the  wide  region  ot  duty 
which  a  single  glance  can  survey ;,  provided  iule& do 
all  the  possible  varieties  and  contingencies  ot  humar 
action  ;  while  the  consciousness  it  itflords  Ins  follow- 
ers,  that  they  are  able  to  sustain  the  particulars  ot 
their  life  upon  great  first  principles,  enables  them  to 
advance  in  the  path  of  holiness  with  an  erect,  as¬ 
sured,  and  dignified  carnage  of  mind ;  and  the  de 
mand  which  it  makes  on  the  higher  capabilities  ol 
nature,  in  calling  them  to  comprehend  such  mea¬ 
sures  of  greatness,  and  to  sympathise  with  such  per¬ 
fection,  raises  and  ennobles  them  to  themselves,  and 
possesses  them  with  the  feeling  that  they  are  allied 

t0To°  give  a  single  exemplification,  let  me  advert  to 
the  axiom  known  by  the  names  of  the  .golden  rule, 
and  the  universal  law  of  equity;  all  tin  g  1 
ever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye 
also  unto  them  ;  for  this  is  the  law  and  tl)e  Pr0Ph®  * 
The  Saviour  himself  ascribes  to  this  nde  the  con 
densed  and  comprehensive  character  for  which  we 
have  cited  it ;  he  pronounces  it  an  abstract  o  all  that 
had  been  prescribed  by  the  law  and  the  prophets  ,  all 
they  delivered  on  the  subject  is  reducible  to  this,  so 
that,  were  their  writings  lost,  this  summary  might  be 
expanded  into  all  they  uttered.  Notwithstanding  its 
conciseness,  it  is  a  maxim  of  so  generic  a  kind,  that, 
encircling  the  whole  sphere  of  social  virtue,  it  em¬ 
braces  all  things  whatsoever  that  sphere  contains.  JN  o 
injury  can  be  done,  no  reasonable  kindness  be  omi  - 
ted  by  man  to  man,  which  is  not  a  violation  of  this 
royal  law;  nor  can  any  duty  be  performed  which  it 
does  not  virtually  enjoin.  If  it  needed  any  other 
33 


396 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


quality  to  recommend  it,  we  might  easily  show  that 
it  has  numerous  excellences  fully  answerable  to  its 
comprehensiveness.  It  is  a  rule  as  portable  as  our 
self-love,  and  identical  with  it ;  for  what  is  it  hut  the 
love  of  self  applied  to  the  destruction  of  selfishness, 
by  being  pressed  into  the  service  of  universal  be¬ 
nevolence  ?  It  is  the  measuring  rod  which  is  never 
out  of  the  hand  of  self  for  its  own  purpose,  legalized, 
and  applied  to  meet  out  the  same  measure  for  the 
good  of  others.  It  seeks  to  equalize  vicissitude  ;  to 
make  a  community  of  our  joys  and  sorrows,  by  distri¬ 
buting  them  as  nearly  into  equal  parts  as  if  we  knew 
not  the  portion  which  would  fall  to  us.  It  aims  to 
transform  self  into  an  impartial  judge,  by  giving  it  an 
interest  in  all  the  decisions  which  it  pronounces  on 
others.  By  compelling  our  selfishness  to  do  the 
work  of  destruction  on  itself,  it  makes  us  content  to 
number  as  one,  as  a  mere  unit,  in  the  sum  of  the  spe¬ 
cies  ;  and  to  seek  the  welfare  of  the  whole  as  the 
shortest  and  the  only  way  of  promoting  our  own  in¬ 
dividual  interest.  Let  this  infallible  law  be  under¬ 
stood  and  applied,  and  the  trade  of  the  casuist  would 
be  gone  in  the  department  of  social  life ;  for  self-in¬ 
terest,  prompt  and  even  intuitive  when  it  sits  in  judg¬ 
ment  for  its  own  ends,  would  have  only  to  imagine  a 
momentary  self-transmigration,  and  to  transfer  its 
judgments  for  the  advantage  of  others. 

We  might  extend  this  representation  to  another  par¬ 
ticular  of  a  similar  kind,  showing  the  comprehensive¬ 
ness  of  our  Lord’s  maxims  concerning  the  omission  of 
duty.  The  line  which  divides  his  kingdom  from  the 
empire  of  sin  is  so  fine,  that,  like  the  line  of  geome¬ 
try,  it  is  length  without  breadth ;  it  occupies  no  part 
of  the  territories  which  it  defines  ;  it  creates  no  bor¬ 
der  land,  no  neutral  ground.  “  He  that  is  not  with 
Hie  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gatliereth  not  with 
me  scattereth  abroad  a  sentence  which  separates 
dhe  world  into  two  great  classes  ;  assigning  over  to 
the  dominion  of  Satan  the  lukewarm  with  the  hos¬ 
tile  ;  and  leaving  them  to  discover,  that  whereas  they 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


397 


had  expected  to  find  themselves  standing  at  least 
neutral  ground,  they  are  actually  and  considerably 
within  the  frontiers  of  the  kingdom  ot  dtirkness. 

How  large  a  proportion  of  those,  whom  custon 
and  courtesy  agree  to  call  Christians,  live  and  die  in 
self-complacency  and  hope,  from  the  persuasion  that 
they  have  been  harmless ,  or,  because  they  ha\  * 
nothing.  It  seems  never  to  occur  to  |tich  that  to 
spend  threescore  years  and  ten  on  a  field  of  conflict, 
the  listless  spectators  of  a  strife  m  which  heaven 
every  moment  importunes  them  to  take  part,  is  01.  - 
obedience  and  guilt.  But,  for  tins  large  sum  ot 
human  ciphers,  this  aggregation  of  figures  whose 
total  is  nothing,  the  final  sentence  is  already  prepar 
ed.  Having  never  aspired  to  Christian  activity,  or 
positive  excellence,  the  doom  which  will  consign  the 
whole  class  to  their  own  place  will  descend  on  them 
with  this  fearful  formula,  “  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  nok 
Now  if  human  guilt  is  reducible  to  a  graduated  seal 
of  demerit,  by  thus  inscribing  condemnation  at  the 
least  and  lowest  degree  on  the  scale,  how  Voida¬ 
ble  is  the  inference  made  that  greater  condemnation 
is  reserved  for  every  higher  degree  of  sin ;  it  the 
mere  absence  of  activity,  the  negation  of  friei^ship, 
for  Christ,  be  denounced,  it  follows  of  course  tlu. 
activity  against  him,  that  positive  hostility,  being  su¬ 
perior  guilt,  has  nothing  to  hope  foi.  rhu_,  y 
recording  a  sentence  against  the  omission  of  duty, 
the  Divine  Teacher  has  not  merely  destroyed  the 
plea  of  harmlessness,  and  proscribed  the  whole  tube 
of  the  useless,  be  had  tacitly  comprehended  and 
denounced  the  hostile  and  persecuting,  leaving  them 
to  infer  that  to  doom  them  formally  would  be  supei- 

^  IV.;. Another  excellence  of  the  morality  which  Je¬ 
sus  inculcates  is,  that  it  extends  to  thethoughtsand 
operation's  of  the  heart.  To  legislate  for  a  small  de¬ 
partment  of  the  outward  life,  m  all  the  power  that  is 
accorded  to  human  authority.  In  speaking 
spiritual  character  which  the  law  assumed  in  the 


398  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

hands  of  Christ,  we  showed  that  it  is  his  prerogative 
to  prescribe  for  the  heart.  “  He  knew  what  was  in 
man and  he  knew  the  connection  between  that 
hidden  source  and  the  visible  life,  to  be  the  relation 
of  cause  and  effect ;  he  sought,  therefore,  to  purify 
the  streams  by  cleansing  the  fountain.  He  denoun¬ 
ces'  the  murder  and  adultery  of  the  heart ;  sins, 
which  were  unknown  to  the  popular  code  of  Jewish 
morality.  “  Out  of  the  heart,”  said  he,  “  proceed  evil 
thoughts  and  every  thing  that  defileth  and,  accord¬ 
ingly,  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  hidden  machinery  of 
pollution,  and  essayed  to  destroy  it  in  its  springs. 
He  sees  evil  there  in  its  type  ;  and  aimed  to  crush 
and  annihilate  it  in  its  mould.  He  does  not  wait  till 
sin  comes  out  into  the  life,  an  overt  act ;  but,  passing 
into  the  heart,  he  begins  to  exert  the  authority  of  law 
much  earlier  and  higher ;  he  meets  the  sin  in  its  na¬ 
tive  home  ;  detects  it  before  it  has  become  any  thing 
but  thought,  or  desire,  or  intention. 

By  repeatedly  asking  his  auditors,  as  he  did,  “  Why 
think  ye  evil  in  your  hearts  ?”  he,  in  effect,  proclaim¬ 
ed  that  the  busy  and  populous  world  of  thought  is 
subject  to  divine  jurisdiction  ;  that  his  eye  is  on  all 
its  most  silent  pulsations  and  hidden  movements ; 
and,  consequently,  that  these  would  furnish  materials 
for  a  future  judicial  process.  And  if  it  exalt  our 
conceptions  of  matter,  to  know,  that,  by  man,  it  is 
absolutely  indestructible  ;  that  of  all  which  has  ever 
existed  not  an  atom  is  lost ;  that,  however  it  may  be 
modified  and  dissipated,  it  cannot  be  destroyed ;  and 
that  the  whole  is  destined  to  pass  through  the  final 
regenerating  fires  ;  then,  what  is  the  amount  of  sol¬ 
emn  importance  which  should  invest  the  slightest 
movements  of  our  minds,  and  what  the  degree  of  in¬ 
tense  solicitude  with  which  we  should  control  and 
watch  them,  when  we  know,  that  of  all  the  infinite 
myriads  of  our  thoughts,  not  one  is  lost ;  that  they 
are  accumulating  fast  for  judgment ;  that  over  the 
least  of  them  all  a  solemn  inquest  will  be  held,  by 
God  and  his  empannelled  angels ;  and  that  their  ver- 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


399 


diet  will  turn  it  into  an  element  of  endless  joy  or 
woe  Yes,  the  moment  will  come  when  the  slight¬ 
est  movement  of  the  mind  will  be  deemed  inex¬ 
pressibly  more  worthy  of  attention,  than  the  aspect 
of  the  starry  heavens  in  their  solemn  midnight  mag 
nificence— the  most  august  spectacle  of  nature— lor 
it  will  be  seen  creating  for  us  our  eternal  state  :  anti 
why  should  we  not  deem  it  so  now  ?  To  cleanse 
the  air,  under  certain  circumstances,  philosoplry  has 
devised  a  method  of  straining,  and  even  searching, 
that  subtle  element  for  every  particle  of  matter  inju¬ 
rious  to  life;  did  we  duly  care  for  the  health  of  the 
soul,  the  morality  of  Jesus  would  teach  us  the  nob  er 
philosophy,  the  more  vital  art,  of  subjecting  the  in- 
ner  atmosphere  of  the  soul  to  a  process  of  examina¬ 
tion,  in  which  the  faintest  rudiments  of  evil  t\ould  be 
detected,  and  rejected  as  seeds  of  death. 

V  But  the  morality  which  Jesus  inculcated  pene¬ 
trates  deeper  than  to  the  thoughts;  ]t  6oeB 
that  which  originates  and  gives  charactei  to  thou  ht 
itself — to  motive.  Conscious  that  the  vilest  motives 
may  coexist  with  the  fairest  actions,  men  have  ever 
made  it  a  favorite  object  to  have  their  character  esti¬ 
mated  by  professions  and  appearances.  But  the  mo¬ 
rality  of  Jesus  will  accept  nothing  for  virtue  which 
is  not  pure  in  its  origin  ;  it  proposes  to  restore  the 
reign  of  motive.  “  Except  your  righteousness  ex¬ 
ceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Thai  lsees, 
said  he,  “ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ”  ‘  The  radical  defect  of  their  piety  was,  that 
it  was  only  superficial:  a  robe  of  light  assumed  to 
conceal  the  fiend  of  darkness.  Their  actions  weie 
the  outside  of  the  platter,  burnished  and  dean  ,  but 
their  motives  were  the  inside,  polluted  with  then  ex¬ 
cesses  Their  professions  were  “like  graves  which 
appear  not,  and  the  men  that  walk  oyer  them  are  not 
aware  of  them.”  Their  piety  was  the  whited  sep¬ 
ulcher,  which  indeed  appears  beautiful  without, 
the  motive  which  produced  it  was  the  corruption  and 
death  within.  They  gave  alms;  but  it  was  only  when 
32* 


400  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

the  trumpet  sounded,  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  ;  and,  from  this  ostentation,  the  Saviour  took  oc¬ 
casion  to  convey  this  important  truth— that,  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  the  reward  of  a  laudable  action 
never  rises  above  the  level  of  the  motive  which  pro¬ 
duces  it ;  if  it  originates  as  theirs  did  in  a  thirst  for 
human  applause  it  must  not  look  for  the  divine  ap¬ 
probation  ;  its  motive  is  the  measurer  and  arbiter  of 
its  own  reward. 

But  not  only  did  he  reprobate  impure  and  selfish 
motives,  he  specified  and  even  provided  the  motive 
which  holiness  demands — the  principle  which  fills 
the  bosom  and  sways  the  actions  of  God  himself— 
love.  Like  a  perfect  legislator,  having  prescribed  the 
sublimest  rules  of  life,  he  proceeded  to  furnish  the 
most  generous  and  glorious  principle  of  obedience. 
He  died  for  us.  As  if  determined  that  a  sense  of  ob¬ 
ligation  should  overpower  and  absorb  every  other 
incentive  to  duty,  he  made  the  obligation  infinite  by 
laying  down  his  life  for  our  redemption.  He  died  to 
secure  us  from  the  penalty  of  the  law  we  had  broken, 
that  he  might  bring  us  under  irresistible  obligation 
to  obey  the  law  which  he  enacted.  In  the  place  of 
the  two  tables  of  stone,  he  substituted  the  cross,  in¬ 
scribed  with  the  materials  of  his  love,  and  our  duty. 
He  erected  his  cross  ;  and  constituted  it  at  once  the 
seat  of  legislation  and  the  altar  of  sacrifice.  “  When 
Moses  had  spoken  every  precept  to  all  the  people 
according  to  the  law,  he  sprinkled  with  blood  both 
the  hook  and  all  the  people,  saying,  This  is  the  blood 
of  the  testament  which  God  hath  enjoined  unto  you 
when  Jesus  had  completed  his  code  of  divine  mo¬ 
rality,  he  sprinkled  it  with  his  own  most  precious 
blood,  saying,  “If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  command¬ 
ments.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends :  ye  are  my 
friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you.” 

It  is  true,  that  while  inculcating  his  divine  precepts, 
the  piacular  and  vicarious  nature  of  his  death  was 
not  understood  by  those  whom  he  addressed.  But 
not  only  were  his  injunctions  copiously  interspersed 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


401 


“7^ ‘H:S 

self,  whatever  lie  might  do  01  become,  ^  fa| 

1  r'nrl  “This  is  the  work  ot  Lrou,  uiai 

sSs.S£Si sm 
S=.rt^.=5¥."t"S 
sssr£RTJss,TiS& 

&S38S3&Z&- 

SS 

gation  to  his  grace.  It  they  receiv  _  ma^ng  the 

»£  ISSES 

ffi  S  Ws«SU  •*  -  *.««- 

per*  the  same  Shall  save  it.  aved  condUion  of  our 

B„,  he,  *ta™*tSjt’£X,,  death  for  our 
ous  natuie,  foie.a  cause  fully  commen- 

redemption  would  giv  ■-  .  ,  j  history  of 

IftlSiiSES: 

S,:  into  “opera. fou  a  pnncijde,  which,  — g 


409 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


foreign  to  its  nature,  turns  every  thing  it  encoun¬ 
ters  into  an  accession  of  power,  and  holds  the  soul 
for  Christ,  and  in  cordigl  allegiance  to  him.  Like 
the  great  but  unobtrusive  operations  of  God  in  na¬ 
ture,  it  is  silently  but  constantly  at  work,  achieving 
the  mightiest  effects  in  the  soul  of  man,  converting 
his  human  into  divine,  and  raising  him  from  a  state 
of  close  companionship  with  demons,  to  the  society 
of  the  blessed,  and  the  vision  of  God.  Issuing  from 
the  cross,  it  has  more  than  the  power  of  moral  grav¬ 
itation  ;  for,  while  it  retains  the  Christian  orb  of  du¬ 
ty,  it  propels  him  forward  at  the  same  time.  And  if, 
in  mechanics,  the  strength  of  a  particular  power  is 
displayed  in  the  number  of  opposing  forces  which  it 
overcomes,  what  must  be  the  potency  of  that  princi¬ 
ple  which  overcomes  the  world,  wrestles  with  Satan¬ 
ic  agency,  conquers  the  love  of  life  itself,  and  which 
makes  its  way  through  a  host  of  adversepowers,  mas¬ 
tering  them  all ;  a  principle,  whose  lowest  degree  of 
operation  results  in  acts  of  heroism  and  triumph,  and 
which  generates  all  the  obedience  God  receives  from 
man. 

VI.  But  not  only  do  we  need  an  actuating  princi¬ 
ple  ;  being  put  into  a  state  of  activity  we  also  require 
an  end  to  aim  at;  accordingly,  the  morality  of  Jesus, 
having  supplied  us  with  a  principle  which  allies  us 
to  God,  points  us  to  an  object,  and  gives  a  direction 
to  that  principle  which  terminates  in  God ;  the  glory 
and  enjoyment  of  the  Divine  Being.  Uninspired 
morality,  the  offspring  of  ignorance,  or  passion,  or 
pride,  refers  us  to  inferior  objects ;  to  the  indiscrimi¬ 
nate  love  of  pleasure,  the  avoidance  of  pain,  the  dic¬ 
tates  of  nature,  or  to  the  greatest  present  advantage  ; 
(and  if  I  do  not  enlarge  on  these  various  theories  of 
human  ethics,  it  is  only  from  the  fear  of  desecrating 
the  divine  morality  of  him  who  is  soon  to  sit  in  judg¬ 
ment  on  us  all ;)  but  the  ethics  of  Jesus  include  every 
allowable  inferior  object,  by  proposing  an  end  above 
and  beyond  them  all. 

Having  shown  us  the  character  of  God  as  the  first 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


403 


good,  and  the  first  fair,  he  makes  it  evident  that  our 
happiness  consists  in  the  imitation  and  enjoyment  of 
that  infinite  excellence.  He  does  this  generally,  by 
requiring  us  to  make  the  will  of  God  the  rule  oi  om 
conduct ;  for  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  render  greater 
honor  to  God,  than  by  thus  placing  our  immoital  m- 
.  ,  ■  ’  i  . .  j'  u  liw.coU  nvp  thev  that  hear 


terests  in  his  hands'.  “  Blessed  Ire  they  that  hear 
the  word  of  God  and  keep  it.”  And,  m°re  particular¬ 
ly  he  prescribes  the  divine  glory  as  our  end  and  ai  , 
in  declarations  such  as  this,  “No  man  can  serve  two 
masters  ;  for  either  he  will  love  the  one  and  hate  the 
other,  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the 
other;  ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon  ,  thus,  y 
inference,  erecting  the  glory  of  God  into  a  suprerna- 
cv  before  which  everv  other  object  must  fall  down 
and  do  homage.  And  how  emphatically  did  his  own 
conduct  inculcate  the  same  sentiment.  *  °“}e’f 
said  he,  “  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  ot 
him  that  sent  me.  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of Mum 
that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  Ins  work  Arid  when 
entering  the  shadow  of  that  hour  of  darkness,  m 
which  his  life  of  suffering  and  reproach  was  to  be 
consummated  in  a  death  ol  ignomrny  and  agon^  hi 
fixed  his  eye  on  the  glory  of  God,  and  exclaimed, 
u  T^ntli6r  ^lorifv  tliy  mime.  .  , 

FIt  is  n’o°validyobfection  to  the  loffiae« jo  ^ 
ject,  that,  being  pure,  it  is  only  adapted  o  a  sta  e  o 
sinless  perfection  ;  it  is  addressed  to  our  impeilect 
nature  as  one  of  the  means  of  restoring  us  to  that 
m>rlection  for  which  we  are  destined.  And,  beside 
he  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  whose  help  we 
have  yet  to  speak,  the  gospel,  unlike  the  law,  while  it 
demands  and  provides  for  our  ultimate  perfection, 
and  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less,  is  yet  satis¬ 
fied  for  the  present,  if  it  sees  us  advancing  in  holi¬ 
ness  It  infuses  into  our  nature  a  motive,  adap  e 
by  its  very  loftiness,  to  sustain  its  office  ;  for,  were  it 

less  exalted,  the  depressing  influences  of  sin  wodd 

draw  it  down  to  their  own  low  level,  and  destroy  . 
but  now,  though  it  meets  with  many  a  check,  and 


404 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


mingles  with  much  pollution,  it  remains  uncorrupted 
as  light,  and  never  tails  eventually  to  triumph,  leav¬ 
ing  humanity  with  its  own  purity.  It  proposes,  for 
our  aim,  an  object  fitted  by  the  infinity  of  its  excel¬ 
lence  to  engage  our  pursuit — for  that  object  is  final : 
had  an  inferior  end  been  set  before  us,  we  should 
have  had  a  pretext  for  discontent,  for  we  should  have 
felt  ourselves  capable  of  a  higher  aim  than  was  as¬ 
signed  us.  It  strengthens  our  principles  by  simpli¬ 
fying  them  ;  expelling  some  from  our  hearts ;  and 
reducing  those  that  remain  under  the  sway  of  a 
reigning  affection,  which  gives  to  the  soul  the  harmo¬ 
ny,  simplicity,  and  singleness  of  intention  of  “  a  lit¬ 
tle  child.”  But  this  sanctification  is  a  process;  and, 
like  that  change  of  one  political  government  for  an¬ 
other,  that  setting  up  of  a  new  kingdom  in  the  heart, 
to  which  it  is  compared,  it  encounters  many  an  ob¬ 
stacle,  and  asks  time  for  adjustment  and  consolida¬ 
tion. 

It  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  say  whether,  in  the 
present  state,  the  great  motive  of  the  gospel  ever  ex¬ 
ists  pure  and  uncompounded.  Principles  of  action 
are  too  subtle  for  analysis;  they  elude  our  most  anx¬ 
ious,  but  coarse  attempts  to  reduce  them  to  their  ele¬ 
ments.  The  motive,  which,  to  our  eye,  looks  pure  as 
light,  might,  could  we  examine  it  through  a  moral 
prism,  prove,  to  our  astonishment,  to  be  many-color¬ 
ed.  The  aim  which  we  regard  as  in  a  straight  line  to 
the  glory  of  God,  might,  could  we  obtain  a  compre¬ 
hensive  view  of  its  course,  appear,  like  a  stream 
meandering  to  the  ocean,  touching  at  every  accessi¬ 
ble  point,  and  taking  every  object  in  the  way,  consis¬ 
tent  with  reaching  its  final  destination.  But  indirect 
and  compounded  as  is  the  best  principle  of  human 
action,  the  Great  Teacher  would  have  us  raise  our 
eye  to  the  highest  point,  and  aim  at  the  loftiest  mark 
in  the  universe.  Unhinging  us  from  the  center  of 
self  on  tvhich  we  have  turned,  he  supplies  us  with  a 
common  center  in  God.  The  eye  which  has  glanc¬ 
ed  at  the  unclouded  sun,  is  unable,  for  a  time,  to 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


405 


recognise  the  most  familiar  objects  ot  eaith;  he  un¬ 
veils  to  us  the  splendors  of  the  eternal  throne— and 
the  grandeur,  and  wealth,  and  most  attractive  objects 
of  the  world,  fade  and  vanish  from  our  view ;  he 
calls  us  away  from  the  limited  and  sordid  pursuits  of 
time,  takes  us  into  the  counsels  of  God,  invites  us  to 
join  hands  with  Providence,  to  mingle  in  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  almighty  love  in  renewing,  and  beautifying, 
and  making  happy  a  world  of  immortal  beings. 

Without  destroying  the  rotary  principle  of  seli-m- 
terest,  by  which  every  man  resembles  the  diurnal 
motion  of  the  globe,  he  gives  to  us  a  momentum, 
and  assigns  to  us  an  orbit,  of  which  God  is  the  cen¬ 
ter,  and  which  transports  us,  in  effect,  into  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  universe,  placing  us  in  relation¬ 
ship  to  every  part,  and  blending  11s  with  the  great 
whole.  He  directs  us  to  pray  that  earth  may  copy 
the  example,  and  rival  the  obedience  of  heaven, 
where  the  glory  of  God  is  the  point  from  which  ^very 
action  starts,  and  the  goal  at  which  it  terminates. 

“  Sacred  to  God,”  is  to  be  inscribed  on  all  our  pos¬ 
sessions,  in  the  use  of  which  we  are  to  consult  his 
honor  and  acquiesce  in  his  arrangements.  He  in¬ 
vites  us  to  take  part  in  a  concert  of  praise  which  as¬ 
cribes  “  kingdom,  and  power,  and  glory,”  to  God  su¬ 
preme  ;  a  concert  in  which  earth  is  once  more  to 
chime  and  chord  with  heaven  ;  and  which  is  finally 
destined  to  be  universal,  when  “every  thing  that  hath 
breath  shall  praise  the  Lord.”  In  the  mean  time, 
like  the  solar  splendor,  our  light  is  so  to  shine  before 
men,  that  they,  seeing  our  good  works,  may  glorify 
our  Father  who  is  in  heaven ;  may  be  constrained  to 
take  part  in  the  divine  concert.  Opening  before  us 
a  career  of  glory  in  which  angels  are  our  competi¬ 
tors,  he  would  have  us  to  stop  short  at  no  attainment, 
till  the  will  of  God  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven  ;  he  would  have  us  to  be  satisfied  with  no  re¬ 
ward,  till  we  can  mingle  the  radiance  of  our  crowns 
with  the  emanations  of  the  paternal  throne. 


406 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


VII.  The  holiness  which  the  ethics  of  the  gospel  in- 
inculcate,  acknowledges  no  standard  but  God.  Man 
is  an  imitative  creature.  Having  lost  his  original 
likeness  to  God,  he  involuntarily  discloses  the  insuf¬ 
ficiency  of  his  nature,  and  the  sense  of  the  loss  he 
has  sustained,  by  looking  out  of  himself  for  prece¬ 
dent  and  example  in  all  he  does  ;  while  the  facility 
with  which  he  lets  himself  down,  and  adapts  him¬ 
self  to  the  low  circumstances  into  which  he  has 
sunk,  reveals  the  awful  entireness  of  the  revolution 
his  nature  has  undergone.  But,  if  his  character  is  to 
be  a  copy,  how  important  that  the  model  should  be  of 
the  best  description,  of  a  description  which  is  likely 
to  elevate  and  improve  his  nature,  to  develop  its 
powers,  and  fill  it  with  all  the  excellence  of  which  it 
is  capable.  But  where  was  such  a  model  to  be  found  ? 
where,  among  all  the  specimens  of  virture  which 
earth  has  owned,  and  even  all  the  ideal  forms  of 
worth  the  imagination  had  portrayed  ?  Man  had  lost 
even’ the  idea  of  moral  perfection.  Such  excellence 
can  be  understood  only  by  sympathy  ;  but  for  this  sin 
had  disqualified  him  ;  and  hence  the  necessity  of  his 
regeneration  into  the  divine  image,  before  he  can  un¬ 
derstand  what  that  image  is.  To  have  selected  the 
best,  the  least  imperfect  of  human  characters  for  im¬ 
itation,  would  have  been  therefore  to  erect  a  defective 
standard ;  and  of  this,  the  part  which,  most  likely, 
would  have  been  first  copied  into  his  nature,  would 
have  been  its  faults  and  imperfections.  Besides,  the 
period  might  have  come  when  he  had  succeeded  in 
equalling  his  model  ;  the  resemblance  is  complete; 
but  he  feels  himself  capable  of  higher  attainments 
still ;  where  now  is  the  pattern  for  him  to  copy  ? 
He  wants  one  whose  excellence  knows  no  limits,  but 
which  shall  continue  to  enlarge  as  he  approaches  it, 
and  to  unfold  new  beauties  as  he  becomes  capable  of 
appreciating  and  imitating  them,  in  endless  progres¬ 
sion  ;  iu  fine,  the  only  example  suitable  to  our  nature 
is  a  perfect  example. 

The  blessed  Saviour  supplies  this  necessity :  “  Be 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


407 


ve  perfect,”  saith  he,  “even  as  your  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect.”  And  what  an  honor  does  he  confer  on 
our  nature,  by  simply  exhorting  us  to  attempt  so 
hi o-j]  an  example  !  Whatever  ot  excellence  the  uni¬ 
verse  contains,  is  only  a  faint  resemblance  copied 
from  Deity.  All  created  goodness,  in  heaven  and 
earth  is  derived  from  him  as  its  only  fountain ana. 
could  all  this  excellence  be  collected  and  concenter¬ 
ed  in  one  being,  that  glorious  being  would  still  tall 
infinitely  short  of  the  Supreme  Perfection.  In  exhort¬ 
in'1'  us  then  to  attempt  the  remotest  imitation  ot  him, 
the  Saviour  was  putting  an  honor  on  our  nature 
which,  of  itself,  should  be  sufficient  to  lift  us  out  ot 
the  world  and  sin,  and  to  fill  us  with  high  and  hero¬ 
ic  aims.  And,  to  encourage  us  to  engage  in  this 
great  endeavor,  he  not  only  reminds  us  that  God  is 
our  Father,  thus  appealing  to  our  filial  love ;  tor 
one  of  the  earliest  characteristics  of  a  child  is  that 
he  attempts  to  imitate  his  father;  and  any  action  car¬ 
ries  with  it  a  sufficient  recommendation  m  Ins  eyes 
if  his  father  does  it but,  in  order  to  bring  the  di¬ 
vine  example  within  the  scope  and  compass  ot  our 
feeble  endeavors,  he  humanized  and  embodied  it  m 
his  own  life.  “He  that  hath  seen  me,”  saith  lie, 
“  hath  seen  the  Father  also hath  seen  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  eternal  Father  acted  out  and  submitted  to 
human  imitation.  And  so  softened  and  subdued  is 
that  example,  as  seen  in  him,  that  the  babe  in  Christ 
beholds  in  it  features  which  he  hopes  and  aspires  to 
resemble ;  so  attractive  is  it,  that  all  the  family  of 
God,  in  heaven  and  earth,  have  their  eyes  habitually 
fixed  on  it  in  holy  and  delighted  contemplation  ;  so 
perfect  is  it,  that  the  least  deviation  from  it  is  sin,  and 
the  least  approach  to  it  a  step  towards  holiness;  and 
so  great  and  glorious  is  it,  that  the  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect,  and  the  angels  before  the  throne,  have 
higher  conceptions  of  it  at  this  moment  than  they 
have  ever  had  before  ;  and  so  their  conceptions  of  it 
wiirgo  on  perpetually  enlarging,  and  their  admira¬ 
tion  constantly  increasing,  while  they  will  always 
34 


408 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


feel  that  there  is  in  it  an  unfathomed  excellence,  an 
infinite  perfection,  still  remaining. 

The  Divine  Redeemer,  by  thus  making  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  God  exemplary  in  his  own  life,  has  graciously 
adapted  it  to  universal  imitation.  Uniting  in  his  per¬ 
son  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty,  majesty  and 
abatement,  power  and  weakness,  his  example,  in  one 
or  the  other  of  its  aspects,  is  accommodated  to  every 
variety  of  condition.  It  teaches  the  highest,  that 
there  is  an  order  of  greatness  distinct  from  all  that 
earth  can  confer,  and  superior  to  it;  and  it  reminds 
the  lowest,  that  they  can  invest  their  state  with  gran¬ 
deur,  and  finally  attain  an  elevation  of  excellence 
from  which  the  inequalities  of  life  will  appear  on  a 
level;  while,  to  every  intermediate  condition,  it  pre¬ 
sents  a  phase  especially  suited  for  study  and  imita¬ 
tion.  And  what  a  motive  to  imitation  arises  from  the 
tact,  that  he  who  has  thus  become  our  exemplar  is 
himself  occupied  in  the  perpetual  inspection  of  our 
conduct.  “  Lo,”  saith  he,  to  his  disciples,  “  I  am  with 
you  always.”  By  moving  in  the  presence  even  of  a 
man  of  a  vigorous  and  commanding  character,  we 
gradually  imbibe  his  spirit  and  opinions :  on  this 
principle  it  was,  that  a  heathen  philosopher  advised 
his  disciples  to  imagine  themselves  constantly  acting 
under  the  eye  of  some  ancient  sage  renowned  for 
virtue  ;  we  can  never  lift  our  eye  without  encounter¬ 
ing  the  look  of  our  Divine  Master.  We  never  move 
out  of  his  presence,  nor  does  he  ever  withdraw  his 
eye  from  us;  and  as,  in  copying  the  productions  of 
ancient  genius,  the  admiring  artist  takes  up  his  station 
before  his  model,  and,  that  he  may  not  omit  a  single 
line  or  shade,  raises  his  eye  every  moment  to  scan 
the  original,  so  we  are  to  avail  ourselves  of  his  per¬ 
petual  presence,  by  recurring  in  thought  to  his  di¬ 
vine  example  preparatory  to  every  step  we  take ;  and 
as  the  soldier  in  actual  conflict  is  instantly  nerved 
with  additional  vigor  on  catching  the  glance  of  his 
leader,  so  we  shall  be  braced  to  redoubled  energy  in 
the  field  of  duty,  while  conscious  of  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Captain  of  salvation. 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


409 


Were  the  world  to  lose  the  idea  of  the  clmractei 
and  example  of  God,  it  would  forthwith  rapidly  ret¬ 
rograde  towards  the  lowest  point  ot  depravity ;  ea  1 
would  from  that  moment  begin  to  compete  with  hel 
in  a  fearful  enterprize  and  rivalry  of  sin.  the  pos 
session  of  this  id'ea  as  it  is  exhibited land  secured to 
us  in  the  gospel,  is  the  safeguard  ot  all  moiality,  me 
gei-m  of  all  U excellence  Barely  to  apprehend  it 
even,  is  an  era  in  the  understanding  ,  hut  to^  ^ 

ceive  the  desire  of  copying  it,  is  alltt  of  angels 
excellence  which  gives  us  the  sympathy  of  angels, 
and  places  us,  as  at  a  bound,  within  sight  ot  the  gat 
of  heaven.  It  ventilates  the  human  breast  of  every 
rhino-  sordid,  groveling,  and  impure  ,  and  tin 
hroLh  t  a  cleansing and  invigorating  current  °f 
1  pavenlv  influence.  The  student  in  art  is  sent  to  ie- 

line'his  taste,  and  exalt  hie  genius,  by 
irp«riffition  of  the  great  masters  01  antiqui  y  , 
student  in  holiness  is  referred  to  him  who  is  the  ex¬ 
emplar  of  all  that  is  good,  the  original  of  all  that  s 

fair:  and  no  sooner  does  he  begin  to  admne  th 
1  .  t  1  .  u  jo  u  changed  into  the  same  im 

thought  to  the  great  Archetype,  with  whom  by  an 
stinctive  act  of  the  mind  he  compaies  it,  and  so 

tirinthe1unTv°erse  of  intelligent  beings,  the  character 
n/ro  is  ti  e  center  to  which  all  that  is  virtuous  and 
obedien  ^'Sitates:  the  authority  with  which  every 
enlightened  conscience  is  in  constant  intercourse 
the  appointed  rendezvous  from  every  pait  ot  ciea 
tion',  to  which  all  the  hosts  that  have  retained mi  i  - 
sumed  their  allegiance  resort,  to  renew  then  ■  > 

and  to  reinforce  their  strength.  And  in  the  heart  of 
cvei'v° individual  believer,  this  exulted  couoejmon  of 
the  divine  chai-acter  retgns  supreme.  It  is  a  pimo 
pie  and  a  power  which  awes  every  othei  tear,  expels 


410  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

every  rival  authority,  and  commands  him  to  fear  that 
Being  only  who  can  cast  both  soul  and  body  into 
hell.  It  is  a  nucleus,  around  which  “whatsoever 
things  are  honest,  just,  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  re¬ 
port,”  collect  and  crystalize.  “  If  there  be  any  vir¬ 
tue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,”  this  is  the  point  about 
which  they  form,  and  brighten,  and  acquire  their 
splendor.  Claiming  the  entire  homage  of  the  heart, 
it  receives  the  subjection  of  every  thought,  and  be¬ 
holds  every  other  name  of  power  withdraw  and  van¬ 
ish  ;  while,  capable  of  perpetual  accretion  and  ag¬ 
grandizement,  it  comes  at  length  to  fill  the  soul,  and 
to  constitute  the  sole  principle  of  holy  action. 

VIII.  We  must  not  omit  to  notice  the  advantage 
which  the  preaching  of  Jesus  derived,  from  the  sim¬ 
ple  and  authoritative  manner  in  which  it  was  deliver¬ 
ed,  and  the  sanctions  in  which  it  was  invested.  In 
putting  a  man  on  any  given  course  of  action,  it  is 
important  to  his  progress  and  perseverance,  that  he 
should  feel  unlimited  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and 
authority  of  his  patron.  If  the  instructions  he  re¬ 
ceives  are  couched  in  ambiguous  terms,  or  delivered 
in  a  tone  of  uncertainity,  or  enforced  with  the  ver¬ 
bosity  of  a  special  pleader,  the  methodical  clauses 
and  measured  distinctions  of  the  logician,  the  end¬ 
less  exceptions  and  provisoes  of  the  jurist,  or  the 
misty  film-work  and  cold  abstractions  of  the  meta¬ 
physician,  he  will  most  probably  suspect  that  his  in¬ 
structor  has  yet  to  form  a  definite  idea  of  his  own 
wishes  ;  or  that  he  doubts  their  practicability  ;  or 
feels  that  their  questionable  propriety  requires  the 
protecting  veil  of  a  disguising  sophistry;  and  the 
probability  is,  that,  possessed  with  these  very  natural 
suspicions,  he  will  never  attempt  to  carry  the  instruc¬ 
tions  into  practice  ;  or  will  waste  the  feeling  and 
passion  necessary  to  action,  in  harrassing alternations 
between  right  apd  wrong;  or  will  construe  the  first 
obstacle  he  encounters,  in  the  course  proposed,  into 
a  providential  intimation  that  he  is  not  in  the  path  of 
duty,  and  should  instantly  turn  back. 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


411 


The  injunctions  of  Jesus  were  clear,  determinate, 
and  imperative;  combining,  at  once,  the  simplicity 
of  a  father  directing  his  child,  and  the  authonty  of  a 
king  whose  will  is  law.  Taking  Ins  stand  on  the  firm 

broad,  uncompromising  principles  of  moiality,  he 

spoke,  as  conscience  itself  speaks,  concisely,  enoi  ge  - 
icallv,  and  to  the  point.  The  only  logic  lie  employ¬ 
ed  was  the  logic  of  the  heart ;  Ins  only  auditor,  com¬ 
mon  sense.  Loading  every  sentence  with  meaning, 
he  levelled  it  direct  at  the  breast.  His  style  f seems 
not  merely  to  breathe  a  solicitude  that  it  may  be  ui 
derstood  •  it  seems  to  burn  with  a  resolution  that  it 
will  be  felt,  that  it  will  make  itself  to  be  remembeiec. 
This  is  true  of  the  style  of  all  Ins  commands  but 
there  are  some  of  them  which  go  even  beyond  this, 
thev  not  only  effect  for  themselves  a  lodgment  n  the 
memory,  but  when  once  there  they  defy  oblivion, 

nothing  can  dislodge  them. 

The  unauthorized  precepts  of  other  moralists  me 
onlv  guesses  at  right,  and  shoidd  therefore,  be  ut¬ 
tered  with  diffidence,  and  received  with  discretion 

But  he  spoke,  as  the  organ  and  oracle  of  God  for  the 
universe  and  for  eternity.  He  ^cwatns  p  e 
cents  are  to  constitute  the  laws  of  the  last  da>  . 
and  that  each  of  them  is  to  sustain  the  everlasting 
awards  of  myriads  of  immortal  beings.  Ii  any  on 
could  hear  them  enjoined,  and  yet  refuse  t6  them  un¬ 
bounded  regard,  his  miracles  came  to  Ins  aid,  collect¬ 
ed  and  clustered  around  to  abet  and  confirm  them 
He  called  in  the  terrors  and  powers  of  the  world 
come  to  augment  their  sanction.  If  we  consider  Ins 
chm-acter  and  office,  his  relation  to  man  and  to  the 
invisible  world,  we  shall  feel  that,  while  propounding 
his  laws,  he  occupied  a  position  more  imposing  than 
that  of  the  mount  that  burned  ;  that  lie  legislated  as 
in  an  amnitheater  filled  with  the  attendant  thrones 
and  domhfions  of  heaven,  with  the  judgment  seat  in 
perspective,  the  rewards  of  glory  piled  up  in  si0ht, 
the  penal  fires  of  perdition  flaring  up  at  intervals  and 
dinting  forth  volcanic  flashes  from  an  unknown 
34* 


412 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


depth,  and  God  meanwhile  corroborating  his  authori¬ 
ty  in  accents  of  thunder,  and  saying,  “  This  is  my  be¬ 
loved  Son,  hear  ye  him.” 

IX.  How  unspeakably  superior  is  the  holiness  of 
the  gospel  to  that  of  mere  human  moralists,  not  only 
as  it  raises  the  standard  of  excellence  higher,  even 
up  to  an  imitation  of  the  blessed  God,  but  also  as  it 
supplies  the  necessary  hope  and  help  to  obedience. 
They  only  tell  us  what  they  conceive  to  be  our  duty, 
and  there  they  leave  us  in  our  helplessness  ;  bitt  Je¬ 
sus  provides  us  with  motives,  sets  before  us  the  in¬ 
centive  of  Ins  own  example,  points  us  to  the  throne 
of  grace,  and  engages  to  meet  us  there  with  the  aid 
of  his  Holy  Spirit.  When  the  mind  is  first  awaken¬ 
ed  to  a  consciousness  of  its  guilt,  it  is  inclined  to  look 
at  those  things  most  which  serve  to  corroborate  its 
fears,  and  deepen  its  gloom  ;  the  intrinsic  evil  of  sin, 
the  immutable  requirements  of  the  divine  law,  the 
aggravating  peculiarities  of  its  own  transgressions, 
these  are  the  fearful  aspects  of  its  condition  which 
concentrate  its  attention,  and  augment  its  dismay. 
Revolting  at  the  thought  of  aggravating  its  guilt  by 
looking  to  the  general  goodness  of  God,  it  turns 
away  from  him  who  would  give  it  encouragement 
from  that  source,  as  from  a  sophist  and  a  foe.  It  de¬ 
rives  a  morbid  satisfaction  from  nourishing  its  an¬ 
guish  ;  and  whether  or  not  it  will  ever  essay  a  first 
step  in  the  way  to  heaven,  depends  on  the  practica¬ 
bility  of  inspiring  it  with  hope. 

To  this  crushed  and  overwhelmed  state  of  mind 
the  Saviour  draws  nigh,  and  ministers  the  balm  of 
consolation.  “Blessed,”  saith  he,  “are  they  that 
mourn ;  for  they  shall  be  comforted.  Blessed  are 
the  poor  in  spirit ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  hea¬ 
ven.  Blessed  are  the  meek  ;  for  they  shall  inherit 
the  earth.”  Though  less  than  nothing  in  their  own 
eyes,  he  tells  them  that  in  his  estimation  there  is  a 
wealth  in  their  poverty  of  spirit,  more  ample  and  en¬ 
during  than  all  the  treasures  of  earth  ;  a  majesty  in 
their  meekness,  to  which  pride  can  never  erect  itself 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


413 


and  attain ;  and,  in  their  sorrow  for  sin,  in  every  teai 
they  shed,  an  immortal  seed,  the  fruit  of  which  will 
be  peace  and  unending  joy.  Though  the  world  in  its 
depravity  and  blindness  may  continue  to  hold  then 
character  in  contempt,  he  assures  them  that  the  gieat 
God,  seated  on  the  throne  of  heaven,  pronounces  1 
blessed;  that  the  dowry  which  falls,  even  now,  to  its 
portion  contains  the  blossomings  of  celestial  life  , 
that  as  often  as  the  partakers  of  it  depart  by ^  death 
from  this  earthly  scene,  lie  raises  and  welcomes  them 
into  his  own  kingdom;  and,  when  every  earthly  em¬ 
bellishment  shall  have  faded  and  disappeared,  he  v  , 
with  his  own  lips,  proclaim  them  happy,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  universe,  will  crown  them  with  all 

the  beatitudes  of  heaven.  .  ,,  , 

He  informs  them  that  he  came  into  the  woild  to 

seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  that  lus  com¬ 
mission  extends  to  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless  pit ; 
and  to  show  them  that  he  goes  to  the  extreme  of  his 
commission,  he  points  them  to  those  whom  he  lescu- 
edat  the  awful  brink,  and  who  accompanied  hm 
about  as  the  specimens  and  trophies  of  Ins  grace. 
Bv  t his  parable  of  the  prodigal,  his  encouraging 
views  of  the  parental  love  of  God,  his  inspiriting  m- 
Sons  and  promises  of  grace,  he  sought  to  make 
despair  impossible,  and  hope  the  first  emotion  ol  thei 
Stent  souls.  He  assures  them,  that  so  far  from 
bein-  unnoticed,  they  no  sooner  turn  their  faces  m 
the  direction  of  heaven,  than  their  Father  beholds 
them  yet  a  great  way  off';  that  their  first  incipient 
desire  for  aid,  brings  an  almighty  agent  to  then  side  , 
tSt  during  the  hour  of  their  first  application  for 
mercy  the  place  of  audience  is  kept  peculiarly  for 
thenw’  and  that,  on  the  tidings  of  their  repentance  ar¬ 
riving  in  heaven,  whatever  may  have  engrossed  the 

-inaelic  harps  till  then,  instantly  and  joyfully  the 
Ee  is  changed  to  the  celebration  ot  this  new 
event  Having  allured  them  to  the  footstool  of  mer¬ 
cv  he  stretches  forth  his  hand  from  the  throne  befoie 
which  they  have  fallen,  and  lifts  them  up,  places  them 


414 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

on  their  feet,  and  points  them  to  the  duties  and  en¬ 
counters  which  now  await  them. 

To  calculate  on  miraculous  interposition  in  the  or¬ 
dinary  affairs  of  life,  savors  of  presumption  and  ro¬ 
mance.  But,  in  the  sphere  of  Christian  hope,  Jesus 
has  made  the  extravagance  of  romance  impossible, 
by  promisingto  exceed  all  hope  ;  he  has  given  a  wing 
to  our  expectation  which  disdains  all  limit,  for  he  has 
declared  that  whatever  we  ask  in  his  name  we  shall 
receive.  He  meets  the  desponding  objection  to 
which  the  survey  of  our  duties  and  difficulties  would 
give  birth,  and  he  destroys  it  before  it  can  be  utter¬ 
ed,  by  engaging,  “  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.”  He 
thus  gives  us  immediate  access  to  the  treasury  of  the 
divine  benevolence  ;  so  that  even  in  this  world,  we 
can  not  only  ward  off  and  suspend  around  us  every 
evil,  but  we  can  draw  around  us  every  good  ;  as 
though  we  possessed  an  omnipotent  charm,  we  can 
create  around  us  an  atmosphere  of  peace  and  joy. 
He  grants  us  introduction  to  the  armory  of  God,  and 
to  all  his  resources  of  strength  ;  so  that,  like  the  an¬ 
gel  who  had  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  a 
great  chain  in  his  hand,  we  can  fetter  the  operations 
and  restrain  the  power  of  the  prince  of  darkness  ;  or 
we  can  enter  the  field  of  conflict  and  overpower 
him.  To  put  us  in  progress  towards  heaven,  he  even 
guarantees  the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  this  is 
help  to  which  nothing  can  be  added,  for  it  is  all-com¬ 
prehensive  ;  and  nothing  need  be,  lor  it  is  all-suffi¬ 
cient.  It  infuses  omnipotence  into  our  feeblest  ef¬ 
fort,  and  renders  us,  while  moving  in  the  line  of  du¬ 
ty,  invincible  and  irresistible. 

And  he  not  only  inspires  hope  by  supplying  the 
necessary  aid,  he  also  quickens  our  activity  in  the 
path  of  holiness  by  exhibiting  its  ultimate  reward. 
Instead  of  taking  it  for  granted  that  we  should  be  en¬ 
amored  of  duty  for  its  own  sake  alone,  he  evinces 
the  kindest  consideration  for  our  fallen  condition,  by 
accompanying  his  commands  with  appropriate  prom¬ 
ises  and  blessings.  Thus,  in  his  sermon  on  the 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


415 


Mount,  while  inculcating  the  virtues  peculiar  to  the 
Christian  character,  he  associates  each  with  a  divine 
beatitude ;  graciously  alluring  us  to  cultivate  the 
tree,  by  engaging  that  all  its  fruit  shall  be  our  own. 
And  frequently,  to  give  an  access  of  fervor  to  our 
zeal  he  unveils  the  prize  which  he  lias  promised  to 
holy  perseverance,  and  places  it  distinctly  before 
our  eyes  ;  he  brings  out  all  the  crowns,  the  regalia  of 
heaven,  and  suspends  it  from  his  throne,  reminding 
us  that  it  is  placed  there  to  be  won. 

X.  But,  however  perfect  the  morality  of  the  gos¬ 
pel  may  be,  and  however  delightful  the  task  of  thus 
expatiating  on  its  excellence,  it  is  necessary  to  re¬ 
member  that,  like  its  heavenly  author,  it  has  not  es¬ 
caped  the  tongue  of  calumny ;  though  the  painful 
shock  which  this  recollection  inflicts,  on  those  who 
know  the  gospel  best,  may  be  regarded  as  a  sufficient 
l'efutation  of  its  foes.  Numbers,  indeed,  who  have 
withheld  their  admiration  from  the  Son  of  Bod  in 
every  other  respect,  have  yet  accorded  the  highest 
praise  to  his  precepts ;  they  could  not  advert  to  these 
without  soon  exhausting  the  powers  of  language  in 
eulogy  and  delight ;  and  to  such,  therefore,  we  might 
justifiably  refer  the  impugners  of  his  code,  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  answer  they  need  and  the  reprobation  they 
deserve. 

But  we  would  not  leave  this  morality  to  be  pre¬ 
cariously  defended  by  the  enemies  of  his  cross, 
though  we  can  now  advance  only  a  word  in  its  be- 
half. 

1.  It  is  objected  that,  wherever  the  gospel  has 
come,  dissension  has  more  or  less  invariably  ensued  P 
It  is  time  for  such  objectors  to  know,  that  there  is  an 
important  difference  between  an  incidental  occasion 
and  a  direct  cause;  that,  of  whatever  evils  the 
gospel  may  be  the  indirect  occasion,  it  is  the  cause 
only  of  unmixed  good.  Like  the  sun,  it  cannot  rise 
and  shine  without  being  ihe  cause  of  light,  and  life, 
and  happiness  to  the  world  ;  though  there  are  some 
fatal  spots,  on  which  it  cannot  look  without  occasion¬ 
ing  pestilence  and  death. 


416 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

2.  Is  it  alleged  against  the  gospel,  that  it  rmintnin= 

du^Th1-  S-le-!Ce  °n,the  sni'Ject  of  friendship  as  a 

tint  frienrM  ^  *  WL?doni-  For  until  it  can  be  shown 
mat  friendship  is  a  virtue,  whatever  the  kind  of  char- 

acteisit  inay  unite;  that  it  is  a  good  abstractedlv 
and  for  its  own  sake  alone,  whatever  the  effects  U 

pemIsmftT65  aild  ^  ^though  its  formation  de- 
sh  ions  mil?  Sym?athe!lc ;  attraction  of  twinlike  dispo- 
cui  Jj  111CeSt  ,Jalanciri»  of  feeling  and  con- 
Z  Ces,-yeta11  in  every  situation 

[  ,11;llls  0  cementing  it ;  he  who  should  en- 

his  miorancP  n?1.1  enl°rCe  U  88  a  dm^  "  ould  betray 
ms  ignorance  of  human  nature,  and  evince  that  from 

latever  quarter  his  credentials  were  derived  he 

was  no  legislator  sent  from  God.  I3ut,  though  Jesus 

has"  doHewhC7-effrieildShip  as  a  Primate  dutyfhe 
nas  done  what  is  far  more  consonant  with  our  na- 

ini6’  Indti!pfilllt-el,yi more  ®?nducive  to  our  well-be- 
a-  In  the  amiable  qualities  which  his  gospel  nrn 

J;ces,  and  the  acts  of  'relative  kindness  wB it  fire-' 

J  ,ie  Jias  Pud  the  foundation  of  a  friendship 
sanctified  and  eternal.  So  far  from  being  d  fferen ’t 
to  this  union  of  souls,  he  has  not  only  seBt  Js  a  most 
tti active  example  in  his  own  conduct,  but  bv  com- 
mandmg  Ins  fofiowers  to  collect  into  a  church  he 
i  la~  consecrated  the  social  instinct,  and  built  a 
home  for  friendship  to  inhabit:  he  has  shown  that  it 

ca^K  thersacrc<1  P^e  of  Christianity  that  it 
can  exist  in  perfection  ;  only  in  the  soil  of  reli 

theatreeaofhfe  wlT  °f  para,lise’  this  scion  from 
.  e  uee  ol  life,  whose  root  is  grace  and  whose  fruit 

is  g  oiy,  can  bloom  with  freshness  and  vio-or  JJ  lv 

ng  redeemed  it  out  of  the  hands  of  the  ungodly  he' 

has  sprmlded  it  with  his  blood,  breathed  on Tlfis 

own  spirit,  and  given  to  it  a  life  which  passeth  unin 

iingdom'°ofgGode  "T  0t’  ‘feath’  and  enier^es  ifl  the 
m^dom  of  God  ,  where  those  who  are  the  subjects 

o  n  approach  and  fall  down  before  the  eternal 

element*  wd  from  ltS  aPProving  smile  the  only 

mem  nf  r  crown  lt  with  perfection,  the  ele 

ment  ot  immortality. 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


417 


3.  Equally  futile  is  the  charge  which  some  allege, 
that  the  gospel  is  silent  on  the  subject  ot  patriotism. 
All,  however,  that  can  be  really  meant  by  such  an 
objection  is,  that  it  says  nothing  of  a  tendency  to  for¬ 
tify  and  build  up  a  nation  in  its  selfishness  ;  that  it 
confers  not  on  one  state  a  right  to  forge  fetters  lor  an¬ 
other;  that  it  kindles  no  brand  to  ignite  those  popular 
passions  which  nature  has  already  made  sufficiently 
inflammable,  and  to  which  a  vicious  education  lias  ad¬ 
ded  the  dangerous  tendency  of  spontaneous  combus¬ 
tion.  But,  as  far  as  consistent  with  Ins  ultimate  and 
unearthly  aim  of  establishing  the  universal  kingdom 
of  God,  our  Lord  has  prescribed  every  general  rule 
on  which  the  welfare  of  a  country  depends  ;  and  it 
would  be  easy  to  show,  that  no  evil  could  possibly 
befall  a  state,  either  in  its  internal  or  external  rela¬ 
tions,  which  had  not  arisen  from  the  infraction  ot 

one  or  other  of  his  divine  laws.  , 

Besides,  it  should  be  distinctly  remembered,  that 
love  of  country  is  a  phrase  of  very  uncertain  value  ; 
that  the  period  may  come  when  it  will  iall  into  com¬ 
parative  disuse,  since  it  depends  even  for  existence 
on  the  continuance  of  the  present  condition  ot  the 
world.  Onlv  let  the  great  society  of  nations  harmo¬ 
nize  and  blend— only  let  knowledge  go  forth  in  its 
might,  as  it  is  promising  to  do,  and  throw  down  the 
barriers  of  conventional  prejudice — and  patriotism 
will  enlarge  and  loose  itself  in  philanthropy.  ims 
is  a  fact  which  is  beginning  to  force  itself  on  the 
conviction  of  the  most  reluctant.  Even  science  can¬ 
not  touch  on  this  theme,  without  becoming  loud  and 
prophetic.  It  refuses  to  entertain  any  project  less 
than  the  amelioration  of  the  species.  It  undertakes 
to  convince  mankind  that  every  true  interest  must 
be  universal,  that  good  is  indivisble,  so  that  to  be  en¬ 
joyed  in  perfection  by  one  it  must  be  conferred  upon 
all.  But,  what  science  says,  the  gospel  will  do.  In 
prosecuting  the  march  which  it  has  commenced,  it 
consults  the  map  of  the  world.  As  the  sun  ol  right¬ 
eousness  ascends  in  the  firmament,  our  moial  hori- 


418 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

zon  enlarges ;  those  whom  we  had  seen  by  the 
brand-light  of  ignorance  disfigured  into  phantoms 
which  it  was  thought  merit  to  hate,  are  shown  to  be 
men  whom  it  is  pleasure  to  love  ;  and  thus  all  kin¬ 
dreds,  people,  and  tongues,  are  drawn  into  the  close 
relationship  of  a  family  compact,  preparatory  to  their 
final  assembly  in  heaven. 

But,  while  the  gospel  aims  at  universal  benevo¬ 
lence,  it  does  not  overleap  any  of  the  inner  and 
smaller  circles  of  duty  ;  and,  as  one  of  these,  it  takes 
up,  directs,  and  sanctifies  the  love  of  country.  In 
tfie  conduct  of  our  blessed  Lord  we  behold  a  holy 
patriotism  personified,  the  love  of  country  embodied. 
Where  did  patriotism  ever  exhibit  a  nobler  burst  of 
sorrow  than  on  Mount  Olivet;  when  “he  beheld  the 
city,  and  wept  over  it,  and  said,  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thee,  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  but  ye  would 
not?”  Whose  patriotism  ever  endured  what  his 
did  ?  He  had  but  twelve  offices  to  bestow  ;  but  then 
they  were  the  highest  out  of  heaven,  and  these  he 
bestowed  on  twelve  of  his  countrymen.  He  had 
but  one  gift  to  impart ;  but,  oh  !  it  comprehends 
every  other— the  gift  of  eternal  life ;  and  this  he  di¬ 
rected  to  be  offered  to  his  country  first ,  “  beginning  at 
Jerusalem.” 

4.  But  we  will  not  prolong  our  defence  of  evan¬ 
gelical  morality,  though  the  examination  of  every 
fresh  objection  could  not  fail  to  repay  us  with  the 
discovery  of  unforeseen  excellence.  We  may  confi¬ 
dently  assert  for  it  the  claims  of  divine  perfection, 
and  tranquilly  rest  them  on  an  appeal  to  its  practical 
effects  :  “  Men  do  not  gather  grapes  from  thorns,  nor 
figs  from  thistles  ;  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,” 
Concede  to  Christianity  the  benefit  of  this  criterion, 
and  its  triumph  is  complete.  Follow  it  in  its  pro¬ 
gress  from  place  to  place,  and,  as  it  was  with  its 
heavenly  Author  while  here  on  earth,  its  path  may 
be  traced  by  the  song  of  gratitude,  the  acclaim  of 
joy,  which  it  leaves  behind  :  whatever  form  of  mise- 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


419 


ry  and  vice  it  may  overtake,  nothing  but  purity  and 
peace  is  in  its  rear.  II'  it  gains  introduction  to  a 
community  already  civilized,  it  takes  all  that  it  finds 
there,  of  wise  and  good,  under  its  special  protection  ; 
it  gives  new  motives  to  duty,  new  sanctions  to  law  ; 
arms  justice  with  a  new  and  keener  sword,  and  pre¬ 
sents  her  with  more  perfect  balances  than  she  pos¬ 
sessed  before  ;  throws  its  shield  over  oppressed  and 
prostrate  virtue;  and  becomes  the  rallying  point, 
from  every  quarter,  for  conscience,  and  truth,  and 
hope,  and  right.  Engaged  in  a  perpetual  conflict 
with  evil,  it  invites  all  ranks  to  enlist  under  its  ban¬ 
ners;  by  giving  them  an  interest  in  the  result  of  the 
struggle,  it  urges  them  to  arise  in  a  body,  to  make 
common  cause  against  the  common  foe  ;  and,  not 
merely  to  chase  it  over  the  borders  of  their  own 
community,  but  to  give  it  no  pause  till  it  has  de¬ 
scended  into  the  pit  from  which  at  first  it  issued. 

If  the  gospel,  in  fulfillment  of  its  universal  com¬ 
mission,  vists  a  barbarous  people,  its  advent  among 
them  is  like  the  bursting  forth  of  a  fountain  in  the 
heart  of  a  desert — the  waste  is  changed  into  the  gar¬ 
den  of  the  Lord.  From  that  moment  they  find  a 
place  on  the  page  of  history  ;  and  from  having  been 
tethered  to  the  limits  of  a  wilderness,  and  knowing 
nothing  of  their  fellows  beyond,  it  calls  them  to  take 
rank  in  the  commonwealth  of  nations,  opens  to  them 
a  commerce  with  heaven,  and  makes  them  free  of 
every  part  of  the  universe.  It  not  only  lifts  us  out 
of  the  grossness  of  barbarism,  by  acquainting  us 
with  the  secret  of  our  real  birthright ;  by  the  new 
and  ennobling  employment  which  it  gives  to  thought, 
it  raises  us  also  in  the  scale  of  intelligent  beings  ;  so 
that  many  in  finding  it  have  found  a  mind,  have  exhi¬ 
bited  the  first  symptoms  of  intellectual  consciousness 
and  power.  Yes,  thousands,  whom  ignorance  and 
selfishness  had  branded  as  the  leavings  and  refuse  of 
the  species,  if  not  actually  akin  to  the  beasts  that 
perish,  are  at  this  moment  rising  under  the  fostering 
care  of  the  gospel,  ascribing  their  enfranchisement  to 


420 


the  great  teacher, 


its  benign  interposition,  taking  encouragement  from 
its  smiles  to  assume  the  port  and  bearing  of  men, 
and,  by  their  acts  and  aspirations,  retrieving  the 
character  and  dignity  of  the  slandered  human  form. 
But  these  are  only  blessings  accidental  to  religion, 
the  shed  blossoms  of  the  tree  of  life,  the  dust  of  that 
diamond  which  constitutes  her  crowning  gift.  In 
giving  light  to  the  eye  of  the  mind,  and  objects  of 
spiritual  purity  to  the  affections,  and  immortality  to 
the  hopes,  in  showing  us  that  there  is  nothing  too 
great  for  us  to  expect,  or  too  good  for  us  to  attain,  it 
is  only  fulfilling  its  trust  and  calling  us  to  perfection. 

Of  every  other  system  it  may  be  said,  that  it  only 
actuates  a  part  of  our  nature,  leaving  the  rest  like  a 
palsied  member  of  the  body,  unnoticed  and  unused  ; 
to  Christianity  alone  belongs  the  high  prerogative  of 
calling  every  latent  principle  of  our  complex  nature 
into  action,  giving  appropriate  exercise  to  every  func¬ 
tion,  and  proportion  to  every  part ;  of  animating, 
and  maturing,  and  circulating  like  an  etherial  fluid 
through  the  whole,  and  bringing  it  to  the  perfection 
of  “  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus.”  Wherever  it  comes, 
it  creates  a  capacity  for  true  enjoyment,  and  puts 
all  the  universe  in  motion  to  gratify  that  capaci¬ 
ty.  It  makes  us  feel  that  we  exist  under  an  obliga¬ 
tion  to  be  happy.  Perfect  itself,  it  pants  to  behold 
perfection  in  every  thing  else  ;  and,  since  it  finds  it 
not  already  existing,  it  puts  forth  all  its  efforts  to  pro¬ 
duce  it.  Perfect  from  the  beginning,  it  has  remain¬ 
ed  unchanged,  while  the  arts,  and  sciences,  and  sys¬ 
tems  of  a  dateless  antiquity  have  yielded  to  the  de¬ 
mand  for  improvement.  It  has  seen  every  thing  hu¬ 
man,  contemporaneous  with  its  origin,  renovated 
and  changed  again  ;  but,  like  the  Jewish  legislator 
when  he  had  survived  his  generation,  its  eye  is  not 
dim,  nor  its  natural  force  abated.  It  maintains  its 
post  in  the  van  of  improvement,  and  points  the  way 
to  enterprise  and  hope,  as  the  anointed  leader  of 
mankind.  And  however  untried  the  paths,  and  high 
the  distinctions  which  await  them  in  their  onward 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


421 


course,  it  will  still  be  seen  in  exemplary  advance 
beckoning  them  on  to  the  goal  of  perfection.  No 
living  springs  of  good  shall  gush  from  then  hidden 
depths  in  human  nature,  which  have  not  been  smit¬ 
ten  into  existence  by  this  rod  of  heaven  ;  no  forms 
of  excellence  shall  arise  to  bless  the  world,  of  which 
it  is  not  the  parent,  and  the  perfect  type.  Only  give 
the  gospel  room  to  plant  its  moral  apparatus,  and  let 
it  obtain  the  necessary  fulcrum  for  its  powers,  and  1 
will  employ  a  lever  which  shall  move  the  world  from 
the  dark  vicinity  of  hell,  and  lift  it  into  the  sunlight 
and  neighborhood  of  heaven. 

XI.  However  incredible  the  statement  may  ap¬ 
pear  to  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  chi¬ 
meras  of  error,  there  is  a  class  of  persons  who,  under 
the  presumptuous  pretence  of  enjoying  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  ol  mag¬ 
nifying  his  grace,  profess  to  glory  in  the  gospel  as  a 
dispensation  from  holiness.  That  such  a  dispensa¬ 
tion  would  be  highly  acceptable  to  the  clnldien  of 
disobedience  we  can  easily  imagine,  but  that  its  ad¬ 
vent  should  be  ascribed  to  lnm  whom  hell  itself  ac¬ 
knowledged  to  be  the  Holy  One  of  God,  must  be  re¬ 
garded  as  a  master-piece  of  impiety  which  bids  de¬ 
fiance  to  imatation,  as  the  last  triumph  of  infernal 
art.  Compared  with  the  advocates  of  this  blasphe¬ 
my,  he  who  only  charges  on  the  gospel  a  defective 
morality  is  a  mere  venial  tnfler ;  he  only  alleges  that 
it  is  wanting  in  some  of  the  elements  of  a  perfect  ex¬ 
cellence  ;  they  claim  for  it  as  a  pecuhai  gloiy  that  it 
dispenses  with  all  excellence.  For,  by  affirm® g  that 
it  discharges  them  from  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life,  they 
virtually  declare  that  it  legalizes  vice,  that  it  giants 
them  a  patent  to  sin  under  its  own  broad  seal,  that  it 
naturalizes  the  alien  and  eternal  outlaw,  sin,  and 
makes  it  a  denizen  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  by 
pretending  dissatisfaction  with  its  unfinished  excel¬ 
lence  is  guilty  of  abating  the  ardor  and  expectation 
of  Ky  inquirer  alter  the  water  of  life  ■  they,  by 
adulterating  the  vital  element,  by  infusing  them  own 


422 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


poisonous  distilation,  turn  the  very  chalice  of  salva¬ 
tion  into  the  cup  ot  perdition.  He  wears  no  mask,  he 
bears  the  mark  of  his  master  visibly  stamped  on  his 
forehead,  and  takes  on  himself,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
character  of  the  gospel  is  concerned,  the  undivid¬ 
ed  responsibility  of  his  sin  ;  while  they,  under  the 
treacherous  guise  of  an  alliance  with  Christ,  affiliate 
their  monstrous  enormities  on  his  holy  gospel,  throw 
its  hallowed  skirts  over  the  nakedness  of  their  pol¬ 
lution. 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  “  doctrine  of  devils 
it  partakes  of  the  infernal  too  palpably  to  be  mista¬ 
ken  ;  like  a  stream  of  volcanic  lava,  it  may  be  traced 
directly  to  the  mouth  of  the  pit  which  disgorged  it,  to 
scorch  and  desolate  the  earth  in  its  progress.  If  de¬ 
mons  can  rejoice,  the  successful  introduction  of  this 
error  into  the  church  must  have  furnished  them  with 
an  occasion  for  exultation  not  less  triumphant  than 
that  of  the  first  transgression  :  it  taught  them  that  the 
paradise  of  the  new  creation  is  as  accessible  as 
the  original  Eden,  that  the  upas  can  be  grafted  on  the 
tree  of  life,  that  they  might  confidently  repose  on  the 
success  of  this  experiment,  and  regard  it  as  final,  se¬ 
cure  that,  after  this,  there  is  nothing  too  monstrous  to 
be  believed,  or  too  good  to  be  perverted, when  human 
credulity  and  depravity  are  the  materials  to  be  employ¬ 
ed.  If  he  of  our  race  who  lent  himself  to  be  the  first 
vehicle  of  this  deadly  sentiment,  had  aspired  to  the 
bad  pre-eminence  of  eclipsing  the  first  sinner,  of  en¬ 
acting  another  fall  of  man,  he  could  not  have  adopted 
a  more  effectual  expedient.  Beyond  all  proportion 
of  demerit,  he  has  purchased  for  himself  the  first 
place  in  the  classification  of  the  heretics,  and  troub¬ 
les,  and  monsters  of  the  church.  Judas  betrayed 
his  master  to  the  cross  ;  but  he  has  betrayed  the  cross 
itself,  and  all  its  loaded  blessings,  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  of  God  and  man  ;  his  name  like  that  of 
the  Iscariot  traitor,  deserves  to  be  the  synonyme  of 
all  that  is  exaggerated  and  enormous  in  guilt. 

XII.  Instead  however  of  humbling  the  gospel  by 


HIS  practicalness. 


423 


putting  it  on  its  defense  against  such  an  enemy— 
indeed  an  apology  is  due  to  common  sense,  and  to 
the  most  ordinary  piety,  for  having  adverted  to  the 
topic— I  shall  draw  to  a  conclusion  by  adducing  a 
few  illustrations  of  the  supreme  importance  attached 
to  holiness  in  the  preaching  of  Christ. 

1  Every  reformer  of  ancient  abuses,  eveiy  bene¬ 
factor  of  the  species,  must  expect  on  entering  on  Ins 
o-odlike  career  to  be  assailed  by  two  antagonist  foi- 
ces  He  passes  to  his  work  through  two  opposing 
ranks ;  the  hosts  of  prejudice  draw  out,  and  assail 
him  as  an  Abaddon,  a  reckless  destroyer  of  eveiy 
thing  covered  with  the  dust  of  antiquity;  the  lovers 
of  change  congratulate  themselves,  that,  at  last,  they 
hive  found  a  champion  to  defy  and  destroy  whatever 
H  In  this  predicament  stood  Christ :  but,  to  silence 
suspicion,  and  to  leave  the  minds  of  both  parties  at 
liberty  to  accord  to  his  doctrine  undivided  attention, 
he  stood  on  the  threshold  of  Ins  labors,  and  made 
known  that,  so  far  from  assailing  the  fundamental 
principles  of  law,  upon  them  he  should  take  Ins 
stand  as  upon  the  terra  firrm  of  morality,  that  he 
should  make  them  the  foundation  of  all  lie  built,  the 
basis  of  a  superstructure  which  should  survive  the 

dissolution  of  heaven  and  earth. 

o  Whenever  holiness  came  into  comparison  with 
any  of  those  objects  which  the  world  is  inclined  to 
idolize,  he  omitted  no  opportunity  of  assigning  to  it 
a  place  infinitely  above  them.  Knowledge  is  one  of 
these  objects :  so  powerful  are  its  attractions  to  ma¬ 
ny,  that  they  cordially  sacrifice  property,  and  health, 
and  every  thing  in  the  pursuit  of  it.  But  had  we 
mastered  all  the  branches  of  human  science,  laid 
open  all  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  expounded  its 
most  hidden  and  comprehensive  laws;  could  we  re¬ 
call  the  past,  control  the  present,  and  by  a  wide 
range  of  philosophical  induction,  foretell  the  future  ; 
were  we  able  to  descant  familiarly  on  the  remotest 
regions  of  the  universe,  and,  in  the  wantonness  of 
that  power  which  knowledge  confers,  to  yoke  the 
35* 


424  THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 

imperial  elements  of  nature,  and  compel  them  to  labor 
for  us  ;  still  he  would  impress  us  with  the  fact  that 
the  science  by  which  a  defiled  heart  may  be  made 
holy,  comprises  the  sum  of  all  wisdom.  “  This,”  said 
he,  “  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee  the  only  true  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent.”  But  he 
valued  even  this  knowledge,  only  as  it  prepared  men 
for  heaven  by  regeneration ;  “  Sanctify  them  through 
thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth.” 

3.  He  foresaw  that  the  time  would  come,  when 
a  splendid  profession  of  piety,  and  the  possession  of 
superhuman  endowments,  would  be  objects  of  envy 
in  his  church.  But,  in  order  to  correct  our  estimate 
of  their  value,  he  would  have  us  to  understand,  that 
although  we  could  speak  in  every  dialect  of  heaven 
and  earth,  roll  futurity  of  its  secrets,  lay  open  all 
mysteries,  and  grasp  all  knowledge ;  though  our  faith 
could  enable  us  to  move  the  everlasting  hills  ;  though 
we  possessed,  what  to  our  apprehension  is  the  great¬ 
est  distinction  of  a  miraculous  nature  which  a  hu¬ 
man  being  can  enjoy,  the  power  of  casting  out 
demons,  of  detecting  their  presence  and  command¬ 
ing  them  to  depart,  of  defying  their  power,  and  com¬ 
pelling  them  to  submit ;  though,  like  the  apostles,  we 
could  invade  the  infernal  region,  and  add  it  to  our 
Lord’s  unearthly  conquest ;  though  our  benevolence 
disdained  less  than  the  sacrifice  ofourwdiole  proper¬ 
ty  ;  and  though  our  martyr-zeal  impelled  us  into  the 
flames  ;  the  absence  of  evangelical  holiness  would 
render  the  whole  nugatory  and  useless.  “Not  every 
one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  Many  w  ill  say  to  me 
in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in 
thy  name?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils? 
and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And 
then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you : 
depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity.” 

4.  Our  Lord  foresaw  that,  in  every  age  of  his 
church,  his  professed  followers,  true  to  the  bias  of 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


425 


depraved  humanity,  would  be  in  danger  of  substitut¬ 
ing  the  appendages  and  accretions  ot  religion  in  the 
place  of  piety  itself.  This  pernicious  propensity 
began  to  disclose  itself  under  his  own  eye.  Foi  on 
a  certain  occasion,  when  he  had  been  delighting  Ins 
hearers  with  an  effusion  of  heavenly  wisdom,  a  wo¬ 
man  of  the  company  lifted  up  her  voice,  and  said, 

“  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps 
which  thou  hast  sucked.”  Now  of  all  the  conceiva¬ 
ble  substitutes  for  personal  piety  on  which  human 
indolence  might  seek  to  repose,  that  ot  kinship  to 
Christ  seems  the  most  natural,  and  the  least  liable  to 
general  abuse.  But  he  saw  in  his  outburst  of  men¬ 
tal  feeling,  however  natural,  a  principle  involved 
capable  of  general  application,  and  pregnant  with 
danger :  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  take  off  our  at¬ 
tention  from  every  inferior  distinction,  and  fix  it  on 
the  true  theory  of  blessedness,  he  instantly  rejoined, _ 
“  Yea,  rather,  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of 

God,  and  keep  it.”  , 

5.  On  another  occasion,  his  mother  and  brethren, 
actually  presuming  on  the  ties  of  kindred,  wished  to 
interfere  with  his  labors,  and  expected  that  he  would 
show  them  some  public  mark  of  deference.  But 
he  answered  and  said,  Who  is  my  mother  ?  and  who 
are  my  brethren  ?”  thus  plainly  intimating  that,  m 
his  official  capacity,  he  knew  no  affinity  but  that 
which  originates  in  faith,  is  cemented  by  love,  and 
puts  forth  "the  fruits  of  holy  obedience.  He  detected 
the  hydra  of  religious  formality  in  this  chrysalis  ot 
natural  feeling;  and,  therefore,  at  the  hazard  of  ap¬ 
pearing  severe  to  his  earthly  kindred,  he  cast  it  horn 
him,  and  smote  it  with  the  sword  of  his  mouth. 
But,  “  stretching  forth  his  hands  towards  Jus  disci¬ 
ples,  he  said,  Behold  my  mother,  and  my  brethren  ; 
for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is 
in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and 

mother.”  .  , 

6  Were  we  to  quote  every  part  ot  the  practical 

instructions  of  Christ,  our  citations  would  amount  to 


426 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


at  least,  two  thirds  of  all  he  is  recorded  to  have 
taught.  In  his  first  discourse  on  record,  that  which 
he  addressed  to  Nicodemus,  he  describes  himself  as 
having  kindled  a  light  in  the  midst  of  the  world ; 
and  that  while  all  the  children  of  the  day  delighted 
to  feed  and  strengthen  their  spiritual  vision  at  its 
beams,  the  doers  of  evil,  all  the  progeny  of  darkness, 
feared  to  come  forth  from  their  dens  of  night  to  en¬ 
counter  its  rays,  lest  it  should  flash  condemnation  in 
their  face. 

7.  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  most  detailed 
specimen  of  his  preaching  we  possess,  is  practical 
throughout.  Unlike  many  a  modern  discourse,  it  is 
not  merely  guarded  and  finished  with  a  border  of 
practical  application  that  it  may  not  be  quite  unuse¬ 
ful,  the  materia]  and  texture  of  the  whole  piece  con¬ 
sist  of  the  most  serviceable  and  enduring  principles 
of  duty.  So  perfect  is  the  character  which  Jesus 
requires  of  his  disciples,  that  the  infidel  has  pretend¬ 
ed  to  see  in  it  nothing  but  the  unattainable  beau-ide¬ 
al  of  romance,  and  to  read  in  its  very  perfection  its 
own  refutation.  He  knew  not  that  celestial  aid  is  of¬ 
fered  for  the  attainment ;  and  reflected  not  that  to 
erect  a  standard  professing  to  be  divine,  and  yet  short 
of  perfection,  would  have  been  representing  the  ho¬ 
ly  God  as  making  a  compromise  with  sin.  The  mo¬ 
rality  of  Jesus  gives  no  quarter  to  vice  ;  allows  not  a 
moment’s  truce  to  any  sinful  propensity.  Every 
member  and  instrument  of  sin  is  to  be  severed  and 
cast  away  with  an  unsparing  hand.  His  people  are 
to  turn  every  act  into  devotion  ;  to  make  every  meal 
sacramental,  a  token  and  pledge  of  infinite  love. 
The  termination  of  one  duty,  is  to  be  only  a  signal 
for  the  commencement  of  another ;  their  life  is  to  be 
one  continuous  act  of  obedience.  Though  for  the 
sake  of  civil  government  and  order,  they  may 
comply  with  many  of  the  forms  which  yoke  men  to 
duty,  and  keep  them  in  allegiance  to  virtue,  they  are 
yet  to  consider  themselves  bound  by  superior  obli¬ 
gations  ;  their  heavenly  Master  has  taken  them  to 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


427 


bis  cross,  and  sworn  them  to  holiness  over  the  sym¬ 
bols  of  his  death ;  henceforth  they  are  to  live  on 

OJ81*And  their  piety  is  to  be  diffusive  ;  bursting  the 
limits  of  their  owh  life,  it  is  to  multiply  itself  in  the 
lives  of  others,  lie  offers  a  premium  to  eminent  pi¬ 
ety  by  proclaiming  that,  when  sinners,  aroused  by  its 
active  and  unsparing  aggressions  on  vice,  shall  league 
and  arm  to  destroy  it,  the  gates  of  bliss  shall  be 
thrown  wide  open  to  welcome  the  martyr-spirit  in 
its  ascent  from  the  field  of  conflict,  and  great  shall 
be  its  reward  in  heaven.  His  people  constitute  the 
salt  of  the  earth  ;  the  advent  of  the. gospel  was  the 
introduction  of  a  new  restorative  principle  into  the 
world  :  it  arrested  the  progress  of  corruption,  reno¬ 
vated  much  that  had  fallen  into  a  state  ot  moral  de¬ 
composition,  and  infused  into  it  the  permanent  vital¬ 
ity  and  strength  of  holiness,  llis  people  are  the  de¬ 
positories  of  this  principle  ;  and  by  their  holy  activi¬ 
ty  they  are  not  only  to  suspend  the  tendency  of  the 
world  to  a  state  of  general  demoralization,  but  to 
save  it  for  God.  They  are  the  lights  of  the  world ; 
they  have  been  kindled  to  irradiate  the  surrounding 
o-loom  •  they  are  placed  in  their  respective  orbits  to 
catch  the  radiance  of  his  throne  and  transmit  it  to  a 
world  immersed  in  the  shadow  of  death.  In  ordei  to 
sustain  their  offices  with  effect,  he  requires  them  not 
merely  to  shine,  but  to  burn,  to  be  resplendent  with 

holiness  and  zeal.  .  .  •  .... 

9  When  an  eastern  monarch  contemplated  a  joui - 

nev  through  a  distant  part  of  his  dominions,  he  pre¬ 
pared  for  the  expedition,  and  made  it  memorable,  by 
sending  harbingers  to  level  a  road,  and  announce  Ins 
coming,  The  regal  process  of  Jesus  through  Judea 
was  preceded  by  the  command,  “  Prepare  ye  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths  straight.  T.  lie  impede 
ments  to  be  removed,  and  the  mountains  to  be  level- 
e  l  were  moral  obstructions ;  and  by  rssurng  an  edict 
for  repentance,  a  call  to  universal  reformatron  he 
would  fain  have  signalized  the  epoch  of  Ins  mission, 


428 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


by  sweeping  the  land  of  its  mountainous  iniquities 
preparing  jt  tor  the  free  and  unobstructed  commerce 
of  goodness,  and  filling  it  from  one  end  to  the  other 
With  the  paths  ot  pleasantness  and  peace. 

10.  And  this  holiness  he  wills  to  be  universal.  In 
requiring  us  to  yield  our  supreme  affection  to  God 
and  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  he  was  pre¬ 
scribing  for  earth  the  elements  of  celestial  felicity ; 
lor  it  is  by  doing  this  that  angels  are  happy,  that  hea¬ 
ven  is  the  region  of  blessedness  which  it  is  ;  nor 
could  its  happiness  survive  this  duty  for  a  moment. 
Bin  in  directing  us  to  pray,  that  “the  will  of  God 
may  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven,”  he  would 
open  before  us  the  prospect  of  unbounded  progres¬ 
sion  and  improvement ;  he  would  inspirit  us  to  Inter 
on  a  career  of  emulation  with  angels;  to  despair  of 
nothing,  to  hope  for  every  thing,  in  the  moral  ad¬ 
vancement  of  the  world  ;  to  sto^at  no  poinTshort  of 
universal  holiness;  and  to  call  in,  at  every  step  the 
almighty  agency  of  God.  Heaven,  it  is  true,  is  in 

plrtlf  dlrrneieX.Cel!enSe,  immesurably  in  advance  of 
eaith  -Truth,  is  the  food  of  the  soul ;  and  there,  in 
the  clear  revelations  of  the  eternal  mind,  the  spirit  is 
perpetually  feasted  with  fresh  discoveries  of  truth 
Obedience,  is  the  activity  and  exercise  of  the  renew¬ 
ed  soul ;  and  there  it  is  his  privilege  to  serve  him 
day  and  night  m  the  noblest  acts  of  duty.  Holiness 

Ih-It1  «fieaUry  °f  thf-S°Ul  ’  alld  there  it  is  robed  in 
that  fine  linen,  white  and  clean,  which  is  the  right- 

tehewplTh°-  the,Sfnts”  Happiness,  is  the  health, 
the  well-being  of  the  sanctified  spirit ;  and  there  it 
imbibes  felicity,  at  will,  at  the  fountain  head  The 
specific  employments  of  the  blessed  we  know  not; 
but  we  are  told  that  every  earthly  impediment  to  du¬ 
ty  is  to  them  unknown,  and  that  in  every  act  of  obe¬ 
dience  they  put  forth  all  the  mightiest  ardor  of  the 
most  intense  devotion.  Every  motive  to  holiness  acts 
on  them  with  a  force  to  which  earth  at  present  has 
no  paradel  So  directly  does  their  happiness  flow 
irom  their  obedience,  that  they  would  deplore  a  pause 


HIS  PRACTICALNESS. 


429 


in  their  duty,  as  a  suspension  of  their  bliss.  Holi¬ 
ness  is  always  at  its  standard  there ;  and  happiness, 

at  its  full-tide  mark.  _  .  ,,  .  • 

But  that  state  of  blessedness,  instead  of  depressing 
us  by  its  superiority,  becomes,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Great  Teacher,  a  spring  to  hope,  and  a  motive  to 
imitation.  He  knows  that,  in  every  condition  of  oui 
nature,  the  best  way  to  ensure  excellence  is  to  mm  at 
perfection  ;  on  this  principle  he  renders  the  peifec- 
tion  of  the  heavenly  state  subservient  to  the  improve- 
ment  of  this.  Aware  of  the  capabilities  of  earth, 
when  pervaded  by  his  Spirit,  and  blessed  with  Ins 
fostering  care,  he  has  pledged  himself  ful  Y  to  jj®- 
velop  its  best  properties,  even  all  its  possible  excel¬ 
lences  ;  and,  for  this  end,  lie  has  raised  its  aim  t 
the  highest  point,  elevated  its  endeavors  to  the  lofti 
est  pitch,  by  showing  it  the  fairest  specimens  of  cie- 
atedexcellei  i  ce  as  seen  around  the  throne  above 
He  has  brought  the  throne  of  God  within  sight  o 
earth  he  has  directed  all  flesh  to  come  and  collect 
around  it ;  and  that  we  may  not  ask  a  hlessmg  un¬ 
worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the  occasion,  he  instincts 
us  to  request  that  we  may  rival  angels  in  the  peifec- 
don  of  their  obedience  ;  in  order  that  we  may  not  re¬ 
tire  from  the  throne  unblessed,  through  the  poverty  of 
our  desires,  lie  aims  to  make  us  jealous  of  the  mfiaD- 
it  uits  of  heaven,  and  incites  us  to  ask  to  be  admitted 
into  a  full  community  of  excellence  and  happiness 
with  them.  Yea,  more  ;  by  urging  us  to  make  this 
request  he  would  fain  induce  us  to  move  God  him¬ 
self'  to  jealousy,  for  the  honor  of  his  holy  name ;  toi 
wlnt  is  it  in  effect,  but  the  presentation  of  a  memo¬ 
rial1  to  the  King  of  kings,  setting  forth  that,  in  this 
distant  dependency  of  his  empire,  though  its  capabil- 
kie^ are  great,  though  it  might  be  made  to  yield  him 
n Tevenue  of  glory  which  should  compete  with  the 
Measured  homage  of  heaven,  yet  his  laws  are  dishon¬ 
ored  his  "lory  defrauded,  and  his  will  left  undone  , 
what  is  \t°  m  'effect,  but  a  petition  founded  on  this 
memorial,  that  heaven  may  not  engross  to  itself  a  - 


430 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER, 


the  immuities  of  loyalty  and  obedience,  but  that 
earth  may  add  its  full  tribute  to  his  throne,  and  re¬ 
ceive  its  quota  of  his  royal  regard  ;  that  righteous¬ 
ness,  looking  down  from  heaven,  may  behold  her  im¬ 
age  reflected  back  again  from  the  earth,  as  perfectly 
as  it  is  mirrored  in  the  chrystal  sea  which  circulates 
around  the  eternal  throne. 

O,  thou  divine  Instructor  and  Redeemer  of  man¬ 
kind,  what  tongue  can  suitably  speak  the  sublimity 
of  thy  precepts,  the  vastness  of  thy  benevolent  de¬ 
signs  for  man,  and  the  happiness  that  would  flow  from 
the  fulfillment  of  them.  How  graciously  wouldst  thou 
animate  us  to  heroic  aims  of  virtue  by  intimating  that 
it  is  possible  for  us  toequal  heaven ;  howwisely  wouldst 
thou  guard  us  from  presumptuous  self-reliance,  by 
referring  us  to  Him  for  help  towhom  all  things  are  pos¬ 
sible  ;  how  like  thyself  dost  thou  act  in  saving  us  from 
a  romantic  expectation  of  the  end  without  the  means, 
laying  on  us  every  necessary  command,  and  thus 
making  us  instrumental  to  the  accomplishment  of 
our  own  desires.  W ould  man  but  yield  himself  up  to 
thy  directions,  the  hosts  of  the  blessed  should  have  to 
gird  on  their  zeal  afresh,  in  order  to  maintain  their 
ancient  ascendancy ;  heaven  and  earth  should  be¬ 
come  convertible  terms,  and,  as  seen  from  the  height 
of  thy  throne,  should  appear  equally  active  in  thy 
service,  and  radiant  with  thy  glory.  6,  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  ;  Glorifier  of  Jesus  ;  and  Renewer  of  the  world  ; 
give  thou  the  necessary  impulse,  and  soon  shall  it  be 
transformed  into  a  paradise  again — a  paradise  in 
which  the  virtues  of  heaven  shall  be  emulated,  and  its 
divinest  pleasures  be  foretasted,  in  which  the  noblest 
exercises  of  a  coming  eternity  shall  be  antedated  and 
rehearsed  and  into  which  God  himself  shall  descend 
from  heaven,  bringing  the  peace  and  joy  of  heaven 
with  him. 


Gould,  Kendall,  Lincoln's  Publications. 


THE  FOUR  GOSPELS; 

WITH  NOTES, 

CHIEFLY  EXPLANATORY; 

INTENDED  PRINCIPALLY  FOR 

Sabbat!)  School  2TeacI)ers  aittt  35tble  (Classes, 

AND  A3 

AN  AID  TO  FAMILY  INSTRUCTION. 

BY  HENRY  J.  RIPLEY, 

Prof,  of  Bib.  Lit.  and  Interpretation  in  Newton  Tlieol.  Inst. 
STEREOTYPED  EDITION. 

This  work  should  he  in  the  hands  of  every  student  of  the  Bible;  especially 
every  Sabbath  school  and  Bible  class  teacher.  It  is  prepared  with  special 
reference  to  this  class  of  persons,  and  contains  a  mass  of  just  the  kind  ol  infor¬ 
mation  wanted.  It  also  contains  a  splendid  colored  Map  of  Canaan. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 


Tlic,  commendatory  notices  received  by  the  publishers  have  been 
so  numerous,  that  they  are  enabled  to  give  but  short  extracts  from 
a  feio,  which  loill  enable  the  reader  to  form  an  opinion  of  the 
merits  of  this  work. 


The  undersigned,  having  examined  Professor  Ripley’s  Notes 
on  the  Gospels,  can  recommend  them  with  confidence  to  all  who 
need  such  helps  in  the  study  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Those 
passages  which  all  can  understand  are  left  “  without  note  or  com¬ 
ment^”  and  the  principal  labor  is  devoted  to  the  explanation  of 
such  parts  as  need  to  be  explained  and  rescued  from  the  per¬ 
versions  of  errorists,  both  the  ignorant  and  the  learned.  The 
practical  suggestions  at  the  close  of  each  chapter,  are  not  the 
least  valuable’portion  of  the  work.  Most  cordially,  for  the  sake 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  do  we  wish  for  these  Notes  a  wide 
circulation.  Baron  Stow,  R.  H.  Neale, 

Daniel  Sharp,  J.  W.  Parker. 


[From  T.  E.  Pattison,  D.  D.,  President  of  Waterville  College.] 

I  should  sooner  recommend  the  Notes  to  that  class  of  persons 
for  whom  they  were  designed,  than  any  other  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  R-  Pattison. 

[From  Rev.  S.  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Pres,  of  Columbia  College,  Washington,  D.  C.] 
One  excellence  of  Professor  Ripley  is,  that  he  helps  the  reader 
where  he  needs  help,  and  when  he  does  not,  he  lets  him  go  alone. 
On  plain  texts,  his  notes  are  not  obtruded  ,  but  on  the-  obscure, 
they  are  sound  and  satisfactory.  In  a  word,  I  view  the  work 
as  possessed  of  much  merit,  and  well  adapted  to  promote  bibli¬ 
cal  knowledge  and  the  cause  of  religion.  S.  Chapin. 

I 


Gould,  Kendall,  and  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


[From  Rev.  Luther  Crawford,  Sec.  Am.  Bap.  Home  Miss.  Society,  N.  York.] 

I  cannot  but  regard  this  as  the  safest  and  most  unexceptionable 
work  there  is  to  be  found  of  the  kind,  and  should  rejoice  to  hear 
of  its  extensive  circulation  through  all  our  families  and  Sabbath 
schools.  Luther  Crawford. 

[From  Rev.  J.  S.  Bacon,  Lynn,  Mass.] 

The  notes  are  almost  wholly  explanatory  ;  they  are  brief,  to 
the  point,  and  are  for  the  most  part  confined  to  those  passages 
which,  to  the  young  and  inexperienced  especially,  really  need 
some  explanation.  J.  S.  Bacon. 

[From  Rev.  R.  Turnbull,  Pastor  of  the  South  Baptist  Church,  Hartford,  Conn.] 
I  have  had  a  fair  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  merits  of  the  work.  I  can  unhesitatingly  say,  that  it  is 
almost  every  thing  I  could  wish  as  a  class-book. 

Robert  Turnbull. 

[From  Rev.  J.  A.  Warne,  Editor  of  the  Comprehensive  Commentary.] 

His  criticisms  are  just,  judicious,  and  unostentatious  ;  and 
often  the  results  of  much  research.  It  may  not  seem  proper 
to  institute  comparisons  between  Ripley  and  Barnes ;  and  yet 
I  will  just  say,  that  Professor  Ripley  is,  in  my  judgment,  by 
far  the  safer,  the  more  modest,  and  the  less  ostentatious  guide ; 
and  I  cannot  but  wish  he  were  adopted  universally ,  in  place 
of  Barnes,  in  our  Sabbath  schools.  Joseph  A.  Warne. 
[From  Rov.  N.  Kendrick,  D.  D.,Prof.  in  the  Hamilton  Lit.  and  Theol.  Inst.] 

I  think  them  superior,  for  the  use  of  Sabbath  schools,  to  any 
exposition  I  have  seen  of  this  part  of  the  divine  Word.  The 
correctness  of  sentiment  which  they  inculcate  —  the  judgment 
with  which  the  most  important  points  of  the  passages  are  se¬ 
lected  for  explanation — The  perspicuity  and  precision  with 
which  these  are  treated  —  the  judicious  references  to  ancient 
usages,  which  throw  light  on  difficult  texts  —  their  adaptation 
to  awaken  in  youth  an  interest  for  the  study  of  the  sacred  Scrip¬ 
tures,  and  to  aid  their  inquiries  after  divine  truth  —  give  them 
a  decided  claim  upon  the  patronage  of  the  Christian  commu¬ 
nity.  Nathaniel  Kendrick. 

[From  Rev.  B.  T.  Welch,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Pearl  St.  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y.] 
The  notes,  though  brief,  contain  much  information  of  an  impor¬ 
tant  character,  and  are,  in  my  judgment,  admirably  adapted  to 
the  object  for  which  they  were  written.  B.  T.  Welch. 

[From  Rev.  Jeremiah  Chaplin,  D.  D.,  late  President  of  Waterville  College.] 
He  seems  to  have  hit  on  the  proper  medium  between  that 
conciseness  which  leaves  the  mind  of  the  reader  unsatisfied,  and 
that  prolixity  which  exhausts  his  patience  and  loads  his  memory 
with  useless  lumber.  This  is  a  rare  excellence  in  writings  of 
any  kind,  and  especially  in  those  whose  object  is  to  illustrate* 
the  Word  of  God.  Jeremiah  Chaplin, 


2 


Gould,  Kendall,  fy  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


MALCOM’S  TRAVELS. 

TRAVELS  IN  SOUTH-EASTERN  ASIA ;  embracing 
A  Hindustan,  Malaya,  Siam,  and  China  ;  with  Notices  ot 
numerous  Missionary  Stations,  and  a  lull  Account  ot  tne 
Burman  Empire ;  with  Dissertations,  Tallies,  Sic.  By 
Howard  Malcom.  In  two  volumes,  12mo. ;  with  a  superb 
original  Map  of’  South-eastern  Asia,  live  Steel  Plate  En¬ 
gravings,  and  about  seventy  Wood  Cuts. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WORK. 

It  is  not  a  mere  diary  of  events  which  befell  the  traveller,  but  con¬ 
tains  thousands  of  facts,  dates,  numbers,  prices,  &,c.  &c.,  which  are 
either  original,  or  gleaned  from  sources  not  accessible  in  this  country. 

Incidents,  anecdotes,  and  scenes,  have  been  freely  introduced  ;  but 
only  such  as  tend  to  make  the  reader  better  acquainted  with  the  country 

The  most  perfect  impartiality  is  shown  to  every  sect  ot  Christians, 
and  such  details  given  of  the  various  missions  as  make  the  work  equally 
acceptable  to  every  persuasion. 

Such  sketches  are  given  of  the  history  of  the  countries,  towns,  and 
missions  which  are  described,  as  serve  to  throw  light  upon  their  present 
condition.  .... 

The  map  is  beautifully  executed,  and  may  be  considered  original. 
Many  important  corrections  have  been  made  by  actual  observation, 
and  the  remainder  is  chiefly  drawn  from  original  and  unpublished  sur¬ 
veys  by  British  officers,  engineers,  and  surveyors,  to  which  the  author 
was  politely  granted  access.  _ 

The  piciurcs  are  wholly  new,  and  form  an  important  addition  to  our 
oriental  illustrations.  No  pains  or  expense  has  been  spared  in  these  or 
the  mechanical  execution.  Five  of  these  are  on  steel,  showing  land¬ 
scapes  of  Mauhnain,  Tavoy,  Mergui,  and  Sagaing,  and  a  curious  page, 
exhibiting  specimens  of  16  different  oriental  languages. 

A  great  part  of  the  work  relates  to  countries  almost  entirely  unknown, 
even  to  the  best  informed  persons  in  our  country. 

The  author,  from  the  important  character  of  his  mission,  his  inter¬ 
course  with  distinguished  civilians  and  experienced  missionaries,  his 
deliberate  stay  at  each  place,  his  previous  familiarity  with  foreign 
countries,  and  his  long  experience  in  the  Board  of  Missions,  enjoyed 
the  highest  advantages  for  gathering  ample  and  correct  details  for  the 
work. 

Chapters  on  the  mode  of  conducting  modern  missions,  or  on  the 
measure  of  success  which  has  attended  the  enterprise ;  on  the  almost 
unknown  tribes  in  and  around  Burmah  5  and  on  other  important  sub¬ 
jects,  are  added  at  the  close  of  the  work,  and  constitute  no  small  part 
of  its  value. 

The  work  has  received  the  highest  commendation  from  the  press ;  and 
the  best  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which  it  is  regarded,  is  in  the  unexam¬ 
pled  sale  of  the  work.  Near  four  thousand  copies  were  sold  within  one 
year  from  its  first  appearance.  In  its  mechanical  execution  it  surpasses  any 
similar  work  ever  attempted  in  this  country. 

3 


Gould,  Kendall,  t§*  Lincoln's  Publications. 


npiIE  ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  MISSIONS; 

a  Record  of  the  Voyages,  Travels,  Labors,  and  Suc¬ 
cesses  of  the  various  Missionaries,  who  have  been  sent  forth 
by  Protestant  Societies  and  Churches  to  evangelize  the 
Heathen  ;  compiled  from  authentic  Documents;  forming  a 
complete  Missionary  Repository  ;  illustrated  by  numerous 
Engravings,  from  original  Drawings  made  expressly  for  this 
Work.  By  the  Rev.  John  O.  Choules,  New  Bedford,  Mass., 
and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Smith,  late  Minister  of  Trinity  Chapel, 
Loudon.  Fifth  Edition,  continued  to  the  present  time. 


The  original  cost  of  the  stereotype  plates,  engravings,  &x.,  to  this  work, 
considerably  exceeded  §7000,  which  necessarily  so  enhanced  the  price  of 
former  editions  ($13  per  copy),  that  many  were  precluded  from  purchasing 
it,  who  would  otherwise  have  gladly  done  so. 

The  present  proprietors,  having  purchased  the  work  at  a  considerable  de¬ 
duction  from  cost,  and  being  desirous  of  placing  it  within  llie  reach  of 
every  one  wishing  to  possess  this  valuable  repository  of  missionary  intelli¬ 
gence,  have  determined  to  put  it  at  the  very  low  price  of  $7  per  copy,  trusting 
that  by  this  means  it  will  receive  from  an  enlightened  Christian  community 
the  extensive  patronage  which  the  merits  and  importance  of  the  work  de¬ 
mand. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 


The  plan  and  object  of  the  Origin  and  History  of  Mis¬ 
sions  having  been  submitted  to  us,  we  beg  leave  most  cordially 
to  recommend  it  to  the  attention  of  the  religious  public,  con¬ 
sidering  it  highly  calculated  to  extend  the  interest  which  is  al¬ 
ready  felt  on  behalf  of  the  great  missionary  enterprise. 

T,  .  ia  r'  C  Secretaries  of  the  American 

Rev.  Rufus  Anderson,  L).  D.,r  d  ,  c J  r,  •  • 

„  ’  <  Board  of  Commissioners 

Rev.  David  Lreene,  J  j-  ■  nt  •„ 

’  (.  Jor  foreign  Missions. 

Rev.  Lucius  Boli.es,  D.  D.,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Baptist  Board,  of  Foreign  Missions. 

Rev.  P.  Van  Pelt,  Jr.,  Secretary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Missionary  Society. 

Rev.  Wilbur  Fiske,  D.  D.,  President  of  the,  Wesleyan  Univer¬ 
sity,  Middletown,  Conn. 

Rev.  Francis  Wayland,D.  D.,  President  of  Brorcn  University. 


[Extract  from  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Baptist  General  Conven¬ 
tion  on  Publications.] 

The  Origin  and  History  or  Missions,  by  the  Rev.  J.  O. 
Choules,  having  been  referred  to  the  notice  of  this  Committee, 
they  have  fully  examined  the  number  already  printed,  and  pos¬ 
sessed  themselves  of  the  views  of  the  conductors  of  the  work. 
The  Committee  are  happy  to  express  their  entire  confidence  in 
the  qualifications  of  the  author,  and  belief  that  the  work  will 
richly  merit  the  attention  of  the  religious  public. 

4 


Gould,  Kendall,  <$•  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


GESENIUS’  HEBREW  GRAMMAR;  translated  from 
the  Eleventh  German  Edition.  By  T.  J.  Conant, 
Professor  of  Hebrew  and  of  Biblical  Criticism  and  Inter¬ 
pretation  in  the  Theological  Institution  at  Hamilton,  N.  Y. 
With  a  Course  of  Exercises  in  Hebrew  Grammar,  and  a  He¬ 
brew  Chrestomathj,  prepared  by  the  Translator.  2d  Edition. 

This  mark  has  been  but  a  shnrt  time  before  the  public,  but  has  met  with  much 
favor.  It  was  immediately  adopted  into  Harvard  University,  jVewUiiL  '1  heo logi¬ 
cal  Institution,  Hamilton  Institution,  Washington  College,  4'c. 

NOTICES  OF  TIIE  PRESS. 

The  work  of  Gesenius  requires  no  eulogy  from  us ;  nor  is  this 
the  place  to  enter  into  a  detailed  examination  of  his  theoretical 
yiews  or  practical  exposition  ot  the  structure  of  the  language  , 
but  we  concur  with  the  translator  in  considering  that,  as  a  phil¬ 
osophical  arrangement  and  explanation  of  its  grammatical  phe¬ 
nomena,  it  has  no  equal ;  and  that  it  is  particularly  distinguished 
by  a  chaste  simplicity,  and  attractive  clearness  of  method,  — 
qualities  which  not  only  imply  a  correct  taste  and  logical  un¬ 
derstanding,  but  evince,  also,  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  sub¬ 
ject.  Professor  Conant  has  rendered  a  substantial  service  to 
the  cause  of  Biblical  learning,  and  done  honor  to  the  impoitant 
denomination  of  which  he  is  a  member.  Besides  executing 
with  excellent  fidelity  and  good  judgment  his  translation  of  the 
Grammar  of  the  great  Hebraist  of  the  age,  he  has  some  useful 
additions  of  his  own,  and  has,  in  numerous  instances,  corrected 
mistakes  of  a  too  common  class,  which,  if  they  give  little  trouble 
to  some  readers,  are  the  worst  annoyance  to  others,  that  of 
errors  in  reference.  He  has  also  made  additions  of  a  very  ju¬ 
dicious  as  well  as  moral  character,  in  a  series  of  grammatical 
Exercises.  The  typographical  execution  is  in  the  best  style  of 
the  Cambridge  University  printers.  The  letter-press  is  beauti¬ 
ful,  and  all  but  immaculate . ’  North  American  Review. 

[From  the  Iloston  Recorder.] 

Professor  Conant  has  executed  his  task  with  great  ability. 
He  does  not  appear  merely  in  the  character  of  a  translator ;  the 
Chrestomathy  and  Exercises  prepared  by  him  form  a  very  val¬ 
uable  addition  to  the  work.  The  latter,  especially,  are  prepared 
with  great  skill  and  ability,  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  the  student 
forward  step  by  step,  making  him  thoroughly  familiar  with  each 
point  as  he  advances. 

One  other  point  of  extreme  importance  in  such  a  work,  we 
must  not  fail  to  notice  —  the  correctness  of  printing.  This  is 
truly  wonderful.  And  when  we  add  that  the  typography —  at 
least  the  English  part  of  it — is  as  beautiful  as  it  is  correct,  we 
have  perhaps  said  as  much  as  is  necessary  to  recommend  the 
book  to  all  students  of  the  Hebrew. 


o 


Gould,  Kendall,  Sf  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


DR.  HARRIS’S  WORKS. 

npHE  GREAT  TEACHER.  Characteristics  of  our 
-®-  Lord’s  Ministry.  By  the  Rev.  John  Harris,  D.  D., 
of  Epsom,  England.  With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by 
Hf.man  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  President  of  Amherst  College. 

MAMMON  ;  (Prize  Essay  ;)  or,  Covetousness  the  Sin  of 
the  Christian  Church. 

UNION  ;  or,  The  Divided  Church  made  One. 

ZEBULON ;  (Prize  Essay ;)  or,  The  Moral  Claims  of 
Seamen  stated  and  enforced.  American  Edition,  edited 
by  the  Rev.  William  M.  Rogers  and  Rev.  D.  M.  Lord, 
Boston. 

THE  WITNESSING  CHURCH.  “Ye  are  my  wit¬ 
nesses,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  am  God.” 

THE  HOUSE  OF  PRAYER.  “My  house  shall  be 
called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people.” 


Probably  no  writer  of  modern  times  has  so  much  engaged  the  public 
mind  as  Dr.  Harris.  All  his  works  have  been  favorably  received,  exten¬ 
sively  reviewed,  and  both  the  style  and  spirit  highly  commended.  The 
following  extract  from  a  review  of  “  The  Great  Teacher,”  may  justly  be 
applied  to  the  style  and  spirit  of  all  his  writings:  — 

“The  book  itself  must  have  cost  much  meditation,  much 
communion  on  the  bosom  of  Jesus,  and  much  prayer.  Its  style 
is  like  the  country  which  gave  it  birth  —  beautiful,  varied,  fin¬ 
ished,  and  every  where  delightful.  An  American  writer  on  the 
same  subject,  would  have  more  resembled  his  own  country  — 
rising  now  and  then,  again  descending  to  the  valley.  But  the 
English  writers  carry  you  on  — like  their  own  M’Adamized  roads 
—  safely,  rapidly,  delighted,  and  unfatigued.  But  the  style  ofthis 
work  is  its  smallest  excellence.  It  will  be  read.  It  ought  to  be 
read.  It  will  find  its  way  to  many  parlors,  and  add  to  the  com¬ 
forts  of  many  a  happy  fireside.  The  reader  will  rise  from  each 
chapter,  not  able,  perhaps,  to  carry  with  him  many  striking  re¬ 
marks  or  apparent  paradoxes  ;  but  he  will  have  a  sweet  impres¬ 
sion  made  upon  his  soul,  like  that  which  soft  and  touching  music 
makes  when  every  thing  about  it  is  appropriate.  The  writer 
pours  forth  a  clear  and  beautiful  light,  like  that  of  the  evening 
light-house,  when  it  sheds  its  rays  upon  the  sleeping  waters,  and 
covers  them  with  a  surface  of  gold.  We  can  have  no  sympathy 
with  a  heart  which  yields  not  to  impressions  delicate  and  holy, 
which  the  perusal  ofthis  work  will  naturally  make.” 

6 


Gould,  Kendall,  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


Keb)  ani  Kiuprobeb  32  tn  t  f  o  n . 
MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  DANA  BOARDMAN, 

LATE  MISSIONARY  TO  BURMAH, 

CONTAINING  MUCH  INTELLIGENCE  RELATIVE  TO  THE 
BURMAN  MISSION. 

BY  REV.  ALONZO  KING,  of  Northboro’,  Mass. 

A  correct  likeness  of  Mr.  Boardman,  engraved  on  steel,  from  a  painting  in 
possession  of  the  family,  and  a  beautiful  vignette  representing  the  bap¬ 
tismal  scene  just  before  his  death,  have  been  added. 


[From  Rev.  J.  O.  Choules,  of  New  Bedford.] 

1  have  read  the  Memoir  of  Boardman  with  great  satisfaction. 
*  *  *  The  great  charm  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Boardman  was 
his  fervent  piety  ;  and  his  biographer  has  succeeded  admirably 
in  holding  him  up  to  the  Christian  world  as  the  pious  student, 
the  faithful  minister,  and  the  self-denying,  laborious  missionary. 
To  the  student,  to  the  Christian  minister,  it  will  be  a  valuable 
book,  and  no  Christian  can  peruse  it  without  advantage.  I  hope 
our  ministering  brethren  will  aid  in  the  circulation  of  the  Me¬ 
moir.  Every  church  will  be  benefited  by  its  diffusion  among 
its  members.  Yours,  &c.,  John  O.  Choules. 

[From  the  Christian  Watchman.] 

This  Memoir  belongs  to  that  small  class  of  books,  which  may 
be  read  with  interest  and  profit  by  every  one.  It  comprises  so 
much  of  interesting  history  ;  so  much  of  simple  and  pathetic 
narrative,  so  true  to  nature ;  and  so  much  of  correct  moral  and 
religious  sentiment,  that  it  cannot  fail  to  interest  persons  of  all 
ages  and  of  every  variety  of  taste. 

[From  Rev  Baron  Stow.] 

No  one  can  read  the  Memoir  of  Boardman,  without  feeling 
that  the  religion  of  Christ  is  suited  to  purify  the  affections,  exalt 
the  purposes,  and  give  energy  to  the  character.  Mr.  Boardman 
was  a  man  of  rare  excellence,  and  his  biographer,  by  a  just  ex- 
nibition  of  that  excellence,  has  rendered  an  important  service, 
not  only  to  the  cause  of  Christian  missions,  but  to  the  interests 
of  personal  godliness. 

Yours,  with  esteem,  Baron  Stow. 


Gould,  Kendall,  dy*  Lincoln's  Publications. 


MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  ANN  H.  JUDSON, 

LATE  MISSIONARY  TO  BURMAH. 

New  and  Enlarged  Edition. 

Including  a  History  of  the  American  Baptist  Mission  in  the  Bur- 
man  Empire  to  the  present  Time. 

BY  JAMES  D.  KNOWLES, 

Professor  of  Pastoral  Duties  in  the  Newton  Theological  Institution. 
EMBELLISHED  WITH  ENGRAVINGS. 


Twenty-five  thousand  copies  of  this  work  have  been  sold  in  the  United 
States,  besides  several  editions  in  England.  It  has  also  been  printed  in 
French,  and  is  about  to  be  published  in  the  German  language ;  which 
shows  that  it  is  a  work  of  no  ordinary  interest. 


[Extract  from  Mrs.  Hale’s  Ladies’  Magazine.] 

We  are  glad  to  announce  this  work  to  our  readers.  The 
character  of  Mrs.  Judson  is  an  honor  to  American  ladies.  The 
ardent  faitli  that  incited  her  to  engage  in  an  enterprise  so  full 
of  perils  ;  the  fortitude  she  exhibited  under  trials  which  it  seems 
almost  incredible  a  delicate  woman  could  have  surmounted  ;  her 
griefs,  and  the  hopes  that  supported  her,  should  be  read  in  her 
own  expressive  language.  Her  talents  were  unquestionably  of 
a  high  order ;  but  the  predominant  quality  of  her  mind  was  its 
energy.  The  work  contains,  besides  the  life  of  Mrs.  Judson,  a 
History  of  the  Burman  Mission,  with  a  sketch  of  the  Geography, 
&c.,  of  that  country,  and  a  Map  accompanying,  and  a  beautifully 
engraved  portrait  of  Mrs.  Judson. 

[From  the  London  New  Baptist  Miscellany.] 

This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  pieces  of  female  biography 
which  has  ever  come  under  our  notice.  No  quotation,  which 
our  limits  allow,  would  do  justice  to  the  facts,  and  we  must 
therefore  refer  our  readers  to  the  volume  itself.  It  ought  to  be 
ijnmediately  added  to  every  family  library. 

8 


Gould,  Kendall,  $  Lincoln's  Publications. 


Memoir  of  rev.  william  carey,  d.  d.,  forty 

Years  Missionary  in  India.  By  Rev.  Eustace  Caret. 
With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  Francis  Wayland,  D.  D., 
President  of  Brown  University.  With  a  correct  Likeness. 

[From  the  Monthly  Paper  of  the  Baptist  General  Tract  Society.] 

This  is  a  work  of  surpassing  interest,  which  no  Christian  can 
read  without  profit.  The  mechanical  execution  is  excellent, 
and  reflects  much  credit  on  the  enterprising  publishers.  They  ^ 
have  given  to  the  American  public  an  imperishable  work,  that  ' 
will  be  perused  with  intense  interest  by  generations  yet  unborn. 

We  have  seldom,  if  ever,  read  a  book  which  has  impressed 
us  with  such  a  conviction  of  the  importance  of  its  being  most 
extensively  circulated.  With  the  Memoir  of  our  own  Mrs. 
Judson,  it  ought  to  have  a  place  in  every  family  and  in  every 
library. 

[From  the  Boston  Recorder.] 

A  Memoir  of  Dr.  Carey  must  of  necessity  give  an  account  of 
the  rise  of  Baptist  Missions  in  the  East  Indies,  their  embarrass¬ 
ments,  their  struggles,  and  their  success.  For  this  reason,  as 
well  as  on  accountTof  the  character  of  Dr.  Carey,  it  must  be  a 
work  of  intense  interest. 

[From  Zion’s  Herald.] 

The  compiler  observes  in  his  Preface,  that  his  endeavor  has 
been  to  exhibit  the  Christian  and  the  missionary,  rather  than  the 
scholar.  We  think  he  has  succeeded.  It  is  in  the  character  of 
a  Christian  missionary  that  Dr.  Carey  preeminently  shines.  It 
was  through  his  labors,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  that  a  char¬ 
acter  and  stability  were  given  to  missionary  operations  in  India, 
which  have  justly  made  them  the  admiration  of  the  Christian 
world.  We  compliment  the  publishers  for  the  beautiful  style  in 
which  they  have  issued  this  book. 

[From  the  Richmond  Religions  Herald.] 

The  name  of  Carey  awakens  feelings  of  the  most  interesting 
character  in  the  mind  of  every  reflecting  Christian,  whose  heart 
is  alive  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Redeemer’s  kingdom  on  earth,  and 
who  longs  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  a  perishing  world.  The  life 
of  the  founder  of  modern  missions,  the  pioneer  in  those  efforts 
which,  we  believe,  are  destined  to  fill  the  whole  earth  with  the 
glory  of  God,  and  to  cause  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  to  become 
the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord,  cannot  be  perused  with  ordinary 
emotions,  nor  without  feelings  of  devout  gratitude,  that  God 
was  pleased,  in  l.is  own  time,  to  raise  up  an  instrument  so  well 
qualified  for  the  mighty  undertaking. 

9 


Gould,  Kendall,  Lincoln’s  Publications. 


Qil SSiiSIM  ©(SUICDCDIL 


TVTALCOM’S  BIBLE  DICTIONARY,  Stereotyped  ana 
-*-*-*-  Enlarged.  —  A  Dictionary  of  the  most  important 
Names,  Objects,  and  Terms,  found  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ; 
intended  principally  for  Sunday  School  Teachers  and  Bible 
Classes.  By  Howard  Malcom,  A.  M.  Illustrated  by 
thirty-nine  Engravings  on  Wood,  a  Map  of  Palestine,  and 
an  elegant  Copperplate  Frontispiece 

[From  the  Minutes  of  the  Vermont  State  Convention.] 

Your  Committee  earnestly  recommend  Malcom’s  Bible  Dic¬ 
tionary,  a  new  work,  the  worth  of  which  every  lover  of  the 
Bible  will  feel,  and  the  low  price  of  which  places  it  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest. 

[From  the  Minutes  of  the  Boston  Association.] 

Believing  that  the  advantages  of  Sabbath  School  and  Bible 
Class  instruction  depend  greatly  on  the  intelligence  of  their 
teachers,  and  that  the  extended  circulation  of  Malcom’s  Bible 
Dictionary  would  conduce  to  their  better  qualification, — Resolved, 
That  this  work  be  recommended  to  the  patronage  of  the  friends 
of  early  religious  instruction. 


T  INCOLN’S  SABBATH  SCHOOL  CLASS  BOOK. 

The  Sabbath  School  Class  Book,  comprising  copi¬ 
ous  Exercises  on  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  By  E.  Lincoln 
Revised  and  improved  by  an  eminent  Clergyman  and  a 
Superintendent. 

The  present  edition  has  been  thoroughly  revised  and  enlarged  by  gentle¬ 
men  well  qualified  for  the  task.  The  book,  in  its  present  shape,  is  one  of 
the  cheapest  and  most  complete  of  the  kind  now  in  use.  Among  the  many 
recommendations  of  the  work,  we  select  the  following,  which  have  been 
received  within  a  few  days. 

[From  Rev.  Dr.  Going  of  New  York.] 

A  careful  examination  of  the  Sabbath  School  Class  Book  con¬ 
vinced  me  of  its  high  excellence,  and  observation  of  its  utility 
in  practice  has  strengthened  the  coavie  ion.  I  therefore  fully 
recommend  it  as  being  the  best  work  for  Sabbath  Schools  now 
in  use.  Jonathan  Going. 

Gentlemen  : — Having  examined  your  Sabbath  School  Class 
Book,  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  express  our  satisfaction  with  its 
design  and  execution.  The  great  benefit  which  a  good  class 
book  accomplishes,  consists  in  guiding  the  mind  of  the  scholar 

10 


Gould,  Kendall,  4*  Lincoln's  Publications. 


in  the  study  of  his  lesson,  and  in  suggesting  topics  of  conver¬ 
sation  to  tlie  teacher.  To  this  end  we  think  your  work  is  well 
adapted,  having  avoided,  in  a  great  degree,  the  evils  of  extreme 

redundance  or  conciseness. 

W.  Hague,  E.  1  hresher, 

C.  P.  Grosvenor,  H.  Malcoji, 

L.  Bolles,  Baron  Stow. 


A 


GUIDE  TO  CONVERSATION  ON  THE  NEW 
TESTAMENT;  designed  for  the  Use  ol  Bible 
Classes  and  Sabbath  Schools.  By  Rev.  William  Hague. 
Vol.  I.,  Matthew  — Vol.  II.,  John. 

The  Object  of  tills  work  is  two-fold  ,  -  1st  To  facilitate  the  efforts  o  the 
teachers  in  communicating  instruction  to  their  ; -j“d’u c; [,°  Nations 

spirit  of  inquiry  amongst,  the classes  ^llk%nd  only  such  as  the 

SUSt&SS  P*  it.  hi.  hand, 

of  his  own  reflecting  power.  1  information  as 

m’ajmmt ' be  \v  itii irH lis  renc  h*,  and  ;> Iso  to  keep  up  a  continuous  conversation 
between  the  teacher  and  the  class. 


T  LNCOLN’S  SCRIPTURE  QUESTIONS,  With  the 
L  ‘  Answer  annexed,  giving,  in  the  Language  of  lie 
Sacred  Volume,  interesting  Portions  ol  the  Histoiy,  and  a 
concise  View  of  the  Doctrines  and  Duties,  exhibited  m  the 

Bible. 

Where  Bihles  cannot  be  furnished  to  each  scholar,  the  Scripture  Ques¬ 
tions  may  be  used  with  convenience,  as  the  answers  are  printed. 


rpHE  SABBATH  SCHOOL  HARMONY ;  containing 
A  appropriate  Hymns  and  Music  for  Sabbath  Schools, 
Juvenile  Singing  Schools,  and  Family  Devotion.  By 
N.  D.  Gould. 

[ From  l he  Sabbath  School  rreasurv.] 

“The  work  before  us  is  got  up  in  a  very  convenient  and  attractive 
form  It  contains  about  nftu  tunes,  and  seventy-five  hymns.  I  he  music 
is  most  of  it  original,  and  of  that  style  and  character  which  long  expe¬ 
rience  in  teaching  has  satisfied  the  author  is  best  calculated  to  interest 
not  only  children,  but  persons  of  maturer  age,  when  learning  to  sing. 
The  hymns  seem  to  be  selected  with  peculiar  tasle  and  care,  and,  for 
Sabbath  School  purposes,  of  such  variety  as  to  require  no  other  h}  mn 
book  We  especially  commend  this  little  work  to  the  notice  of  Sabbath 
School  teachers,  believing  it  to  be  the  best  work  for  Sabbath  Schools 

now  before  the  public.’  .  . 

Price ,  $10.00  ]>er  hundred  ;  12£  cents  single. 

11 


Gould,  Kendall,  Lincoln's  Publications. 


PECK’S  NEW  GUIDE  FOR  EMIGRANTS  TO  THE  WEST;  con¬ 
taining  Sketches  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Michigan,  &. c.  &c. 
By  J.  M.  Peck,  A.  M.,  of  Rock  Spring,  Illinois.  Second  Edition. 

CAMPBELL.  AND  FENELON  ON  ELOQUENCE;  comprising  Camp¬ 
bell’s  Lectures  on  Systematic  Theology  and  Pulpit  Eloquence,  and  Fenelon’s 
Dialogues  on  Eloquence.  Edited  by  Prof.  Ripley,  of  Newton  Theol.  Inst. 

AN  EXAMINATION  OF  STUART’S  ESSAY  ON  BAPTISM.  By 
IIe.nry  J.  Ripley,  Prof.  Biblical  Literature  at  Newton  Theol.  Institution. 

FULLER’S  DIALOGUES  ON  COMMUNION.  Second  Edition. 

THE  THEATRE,  in  its  Influence  upon  Literature,  Morals,  and  Religion. 
Bv  Rev.  R.  Turnbull.  Second  Edition. 

JEWETT  ON  BAPTISM.  The  Mode  and  Subjects  of  Baptism.  By 
Milo  P.  Jewett,  A.  M.  Second  Edition. 

EIGHT  VIEWS  OF  BAPTISM;  being  a  Review  of  “The  Baptized 
Child.”  By  Rev.  William  Hague. 

A1Y  PROGRESS  IN  ERROR,  and  Recovery  to  Truth ;  of,  a  Tout* 
through  Universalism,  Unitarianism,  and  Skepticism. 

MEMOIR  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS,  the  Founder  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island.  By  James  D.  Knowles,  A.  M. 

MEMOIR  OF  REV.  WILLIAM  STAUG11TON,  D.  D  By  Rev.  W. 
S.  Lynd,  A.  M.  With  a  Likeness. 

LIFE  OF  PHILIP  MELANCTIION;  comprising  an  Account  of  the 
most  important  Transactions  of  the  Reformation.  By  F.  A.  Cox,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.,  of  London.  From  the  Second  London  Edition,  with  important 
Alterations  by  the  Author,  for  this  Edition. 

MEMOIRS  OF  HOWARD  THE  PHILANTHROPIST;  compiled  from 
his  Diary,  his  confidential  Letters,  and  other  authentic  Documents.  With 
a  Likeness  and  Vignette. 

TRAVELS  OF  TRUE  GODLINESS.  By  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Keach, 
London  ;  and  a  Memoir  of  his  Life,  by  Howard  Malcom. 

BEAUTIES  OF  COLLYER.  Selections  from  Theological  Lectures  by 
Rev.  W.  B.  Collyer,  D.  D.,  F.  S.  A.  With  a  fine  Engraving. 

IMITATION  OF  CHRIST.  By  Thomas  a  Kempis.  Anew  and  im¬ 
proved  Edition,  edited  by  H.  Malcom,  A.  M.  With  Engravings 

CHURCH  MEMBER’S  GUIDE.  By  J.  A.  James,  A.  M.,  of  Birming¬ 
ham,  England.  Edited  by  J.  O.  Choules,  A.  M.  A  new  Edition,  with  an 
Introductory  Essay,  by  Rev.  Hubbard  Winslow,  Boston. 

FEMALE  SCRIPTURE  BIOGRAPHY,  including  an  Essay  on  what 
Christianity  has  done  for  Women.  By  F.  A.  Cox,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  London. 
Two  Volumes,  with  four  Engravings. 

SAINTS’  EVERLASTING  REST.  By  Richard  Baxter.  Abridged 
by  B.  Fawcett,  A.  M. 

HELP  TO  ZION’S  TRAVELLERS.  By  Rev.  Robert  Hall.  With  a 
Pieface,  by  Dr.  Ryland.  Edited  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Warne. 

SCRIPTURE  NATURAL  HISTORY  ;  containing  a  descriptive  Account 
of  Quadrupeds,  Birds,  Fishes,  Insects,  Reptiles,  Serpents,  Plants, Trees,  Min¬ 
erals,  Gems,  and  Precious  Stones,  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  By  William 
Carpenter,  London.  With  Improvements  by  Rev.  Gorham  D.  Abeott. 
Illustrated  by  numerous  Engravings,  also  Sketches  of  Palestine. 

WINCHELL’S  WATTS,  enlarged,  being  an  Arrangement  of  all  the 
Psalms  and  Hymns  of  Dr.  YVatts.  With  a  Supplement. 

THE  SACRED  MINSTREL  ;  a  Collection  of  Church  Music,  consisting 
of  Psalm  and  Hymn  Tunes,  Anthems,  Sentences,  Chants,  &.C.,  selected' 
from  the  most  popular  Productions  of  nearly  one  hundred  different  Authors’ 
in  this  and  other  Countries.  By  N.  D.  Gould. 

12 


BS2415.H295 

The  Great  Teacher :  characteristics  of 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00061  5205 


